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Chapter Text

‘‘Pikachu, Thunderbolt!’’

‘‘Piiikaaa…chuuu!’’

The sharp and bright electric current moved fast from Pikachu’s body to its objective: Satoshi’s Talonflame gliding on the air around them. But even with its speed, the Thunderbolt didn’t hit. Talonflame, just as Satoshi had commanded earlier, began a swift Flame Charge and was able to easily out-speed Pikachu’s attack. The yellow mouse landed back on the terrain, standing before his trainer.

‘‘Good job, both of you!’’ Satoshi said excitedly, honestly praising his Pokémon. Talonflame peeped in the air, enjoying its recently increased speed. On the contrary, Pikachu looked back at Satoshi with an uneasy expression.

‘‘Talonflame has certainly improved,’’ Clemont said as he adjusted his glasses, trying to keep his gaze on the big bird.

‘‘Yeah! It’s so, so fast I can barely see it!’’ his sister Eureka continued with starry eyes.

‘‘And we’re barely starting,’’ Satoshi said confidently, holding the brim of his hat between his fingers. When he glanced at Pikachu, his excitement was promptly replaced by concern. He walked toward his loyal partner and kneeled down to get on his level. ‘‘What’s with that face, buddy?’’

Serena watched intently as Pokémon and trainer stared at each other’s eyes.

‘‘Pi pikachu…’’ The littlest glanced over the terrain behind him, Satoshi following his gaze. Serena noticed Pikachu was looking specifically at the spots where his Thunderbolt had landed after he had failed to keep up with Talonflame. Pikachu repositioned his troubled look on Satoshi’s face. His trainer only took a moment to understand what was going on.

Serena’s heart skipped a beat when she saw Satoshi’s sincere and fond smile toward Pikachu. The raven-haired then put his gloved hand on top of Pikachu’s head and rubbed it calmly.

‘‘Of course you’ve also improved, Pikachu!’’ Pikachu’s eyes widened as he gaped at his effusive trainer. ‘‘It’s no wonder your Thunderbolt didn’t hit Talonflame because it’s really fast! That’s its field, after all. I’m training it to be the fastest Pokémon ever, and I’m proud of its improvements.’’ Serena’s fond smile went unnoticed; everyone was also focused on the scene folding in front of their eyes. ‘‘Let me tell you something; I’m proud of you too. Oh, so proud! You have no idea how much I admire you, little buddy,’’ Satoshi said as he rubbed Pikachu’s head a little more.

Pikachu’s eyes were shining at Satoshi’s declarations. ‘‘Pikachu?’’ he quickly asked his trainer to continue, listening attentively.

‘‘Why do you think Team Rocket is always after us? You’re amazingly strong, but also have a heart of gold. I trust you with my life, Pikachu.’’ Satoshi grinned at his partner for a moment, and then took on a more serious expression. ‘‘You’re also improving in your own field, so never, and I repeat, never think you’re not strong enough. If it weren’t for you, well… I don’t even know where I would be right now!’’

‘‘Pika!’’ The affected Pokémon jumped at his trainer’s arms without waiting for another second, touched by his reassuring words. Satoshi reciprocated the hug and laughed happily at the emotional Pokémon in his arms.

But Pikachu wasn’t the only one touched. Serena smiled wholeheartedly at her friends hugging before her, her own eyes gleaming as she put a hand over her chest and reached for her blue ribbon. She didn’t need to look around to know that Clemont and Eureka were beaming as well. Even if she’d had any doubts about that, they would be solved very soon by Eureka’s excited cheering.

‘‘Yes, Pikachu! You’re the strongest of them all! And also so adorable and huggable!’’ she crooned, mimicking Satoshi and Pikachu as she hugged her Dedenne.

‘‘Ne ne!’’

Clemont nodded next to her, lightly punching his glasses back into place.

‘‘Eureka is right. Pikachu’s electric moves never cease to surprise me, and I’m a Gym Leader specialized in Electric types!’’

Serena walked over to the raven-haired boy until she stood in front of him. Satoshi got to his feet, Pikachu still in his arms, and smiled widely at her. Serena’s heart rate rose at the fondness reflected in his expression. She later guessed he was smiling at her like that in the heat of the moment… but right then she couldn’t really think straight as he stared into her eyes with such happiness.

She blushed at this and prayed to Arceus that Satoshi wouldn’t pay it any mind. She tried to distract herself as she glanced down at a beaming Pikachu, smiling back at the yellow Pokémon. And that was when Serena realized something.

It was so obvious she didn’t understand how she hadn’t seen it before. It had always been there; she saw it on the first day she met Satoshi again, when they were starting their journey through Kalos. She saw it every day from then on. The connection Satoshi and Pikachu had was clearly something else. Even if Pikachu wasn’t able to become some kind of Satoshi–Pikachu like Greninja could, he was still Satoshi’s partner since the beginning.

They understood each other almost perfectly. Even without exchanging words (or Pika-pikas): just by seeing the other’s expression was enough. Satoshi understood Pikachu’s insecurities of not being strong enough, even after all the training and experiences they’ve lived together. He was able to comfort his concerned Pokémon with kind and honest words.

Serena reached for her ribbon again. Satoshi had also understood the insecurities she’d had before her showcase debut, when her hair was still long and Braixen was still a little Fennekin. He gave her hope, resolution. He gave her that pretty blue ribbon he won while he was looking for the perfect gift for his Pokémon. He never gave up on her, and she knew he never would.

Is it legal to be so handsome, smart and intuitive? Serena wondered as her gaze returned to her love. If only he wasn’t so oblivious in… the other department.

Serena shook her head slightly. It didn’t matter right then. That was a work in progress, the uncertain future, while the present, the happy and cheerful present, was a gift. Satoshi’s eyebrow rose, the boy looking amused and curious at whatever she might be thinking. However, their happy moment was quickly interrupted by the sounds of many sirens approaching them.

‘‘What in the world…’’ was the last thing Serena heard from Satoshi before he was pinned down on the ground by Officer Jenny, her leg pressing against his back. Pikachu had quickly jumped from the boy’s arms to Serena’s, roughly avoiding having the same destiny as his poor trainer. He climbed to Serena’s shoulder and voiced his annoyance and discomfort, Serena mentally agreeing with him.

‘‘H-Hey! What’s going o—’’ Satoshi’s voice was muffled by Officer Jenny’s serious tone… and also her leg as she pinned him on the ground even further. Serena gasped anxiously at how her crush was being treated. She felt Pikachu’s angry growls on her shoulder and she thought he was going to jump and attack Jenny at any second.

‘‘Don’t say another word,’’ commanded the police officer sternly. ‘‘As you should know, you’re the principal suspect of a criminal investigation.’’

Everyone was surprised, but Pikachu never stopped being alert. Clemont was the first one to speak up, although clearly taken aback by Officer Jenny’s demeanor.

‘‘C-criminal investigation?’’

Officer Jenny lifted her gaze from Satoshi’s pinned body for the first time to look at Clemont.

‘‘Suspect?’’ Serena surprised herself when she realized those words had left her mouth. Jenny proceeded to look at her now, nodding swiftly. Serena realized there were many other police officers around them when Jenny signaled some of the closer ones to help her.

She then—thank Arceus—stood up from Satoshi’s back. But he wasn’t left alone a single second of the process; the other police officers grabbed him by the arms and pulled him to his feet. Pikachu seemed to relax just slightly after seeing that his trainer could actually breathe.

Officer Jenny quickly smoothed her skirt and placed her hands on both of her hips, glancing at the teens. ‘‘I apologize for the sudden inconvenience,’’ she started as she pulled out her police badge, ‘‘but we’ll take the suspect to the police station for further investigation.’’

Serena’s heart skipped a beat. Wait, they’re going to what?! she thought. No way! This needs to be a mistake…

‘‘Excuse me, Officer Jenny?’’ Eureka said as politely as she could muster, startling her brother. The older woman nodded at her to confirm she could continue, and so she did. ‘‘Satoshi is our friend, and he’s been by our side pretty much since his journey in this region began. There’s no way he could be a criminal!’’

‘‘Pika!’’ Pikachu strongly agreed with Eureka and Serena nodded along. She would be lying if she said she wasn’t proud of that brave little girl. Clemont smiled, also proud of his sister. Officer Jenny didn’t seem so convinced, though. She looked at all of them, her tone serious and professional.

‘‘He’s a great actor. He managed to deceive every single one of you into believing he was just an innocent trainer in a journey.’’

‘‘But it’s not a lie!’’

Serena flinched when everyone looked at her. Did she just talk before even thinking again?

She then turned at Satoshi and realized he was staring at her from where he was, police officers still grabbing him firmly. ‘‘It’s… not a lie at all,’’ she proceeded. ‘‘He’s the most honest person I’ve ever met, and he would never do anything to harm people on purpose. He…’’ She trailed off, suddenly lost in his eyes. Satoshi’s eyes, which were gleaming out of pure adoration toward her loyalty. She also felt Pikachu’s approving look, urging her to continue.

She nodded firmly and returned her gaze at Officer Jenny. The bluenette’s expression remained serious. ‘‘This is obviously some kind of mistake. Satoshi aims to be the Kalos Champion, and he always battles according to the rules, respecting his Pokémon and understanding what they need.’’ Serena noticed that Jenny’s expression changed midway through her speech, and so she thought it was having the effect she desired. She finished, trying to sound as sure of herself as she felt, ‘‘Satoshi’s not ‘deceiving’ anyone, he is innocent.’’

‘‘What’s your name, miss?’’ Officer Jenny asked, her expression still unreadable. Serena thought for one second she was in trouble, but Pikachu’s reassuring squeeze on her shoulder helped to calm her down.

‘‘I’m Serena from Asame Town.’’

‘‘And what can you tell me about the young man you’re defending?’’ she continued to ask, clearly referring to the raven-haired trainer surrounded by police officers.

Serena didn’t need to think of her response. ‘‘He is Satoshi from Masara Town. We met at Professor Oak’s Summer Camp back in Kanto when we were just little kids, and fate has brought us back together here in Kalos.’’ Serena mentally slapped herself for how cheesy that last sentence sounded. Trying to cover that, she quickly added, ‘‘He’s been traveling through many regions since then, you can ask Professor Oak about it!’’

Jenny hummed thoughtfully, putting a hand over her chin and frowning. She walked back toward her team and seemed to talk quietly with them. Serena got on her tiptoes to try and take a look at Satoshi. He was trying to do the same, as best as he could since some policemen were still grabbing him. As they caught each other’s eyes, Satoshi smiled sweetly at her. It was so suddenly sweet that Serena was barely able to smile back without melting, but she did it, because she wanted him to feel safe. After she went back to standing normally, Pikachu climbed on her head so he could keep his watch on Satoshi.

Serena heard someone clearing their throat next to her. She soon realized it was Eureka, who was wearing a mischievous smile as she stared up at Serena.

‘‘So… Fate has brought Satoshi and you back together, hmm?’’ Eureka crooned, not even trying to feign innocence.

‘‘Huh?!’’ Serena’s whole body flinched and she felt her face warming. She frowned at her attacker, her voice rising without her permission. ‘‘E-Eureka!’’

Eureka just giggled, longtime aware of Serena’s infatuation with Satoshi. Serena was about to scold her for messing shamelessly with her when she heard someone else laughing. On top of her head. The audacity!

‘‘Pikachu, you too?!’’

‘‘Pika!’’ the electric rodent seemingly agreed, even more shamelessly than Eureka.

‘‘Guys? What’s going on?’’ said Clemont, who was approaching them curiously.

‘‘Absolutely nothing!’’ Serena practically squeaked, averting her gaze and crossing her arms as she felt her face heating up even more.

‘‘Absolutely everything,’’ Eureka retorted, shooting Serena an unimpressed look. Serena felt her face paling… but it was also red from embarrassment… how was that even possible?!

‘‘Eureka, don’t you dare—’’

‘‘PI PIKACHU!’’

Everyone quickly forgot the topic to look at the yellow Pokémon atop Serena’s head. Serena did an attempt to look at him too, not really succeeding, and then tried to remain her balance to keep Pikachu from falling.

‘‘W-what’s the matter, Pikachu?’’ Serena asked awkwardly.

‘‘Pika pika!’’

When Serena glanced at Clemont and Eureka in confusion, she noticed they were looking in Satoshi’s general direction—probably following Pikachu’s gaze—and she did the same. To her surprise, Officer Jenny was walking away from her team’s side and toward her.

‘‘You swear everything you said about that young man is true, Serena?’’ the bluenette asked her directly. Serena nodded automatically.

‘‘Yes, ma’am.’’

Officer Jenny stayed silent for a while and then nodded. ‘‘All right. We’ll investigate this situation to get to the bottom of this.’’

Eureka got closer to Serena’s side, looking up at the police officer before her. ‘‘So that means you guys will let Satoshi go, right?!’’ she asked, excited and expectant.

‘‘Oh, of course not.’’

Serena, Eureka, Clemont and even Pikachu sweat-dropped anime-style at her response.

‘‘You… won’t?’’ Serena asked, carefully.

‘‘Not until we’re completely sure he’s not the suspect we’re looking for. In the meantime, we’ll take him to the closest police station and hold him in custody for further research.’’

Pikachu hopped from atop Serena’s head to her shoulder, and she quickly noticed his disappointment. Clemont then walked closer to them, addressing Officer Jenny.

‘‘If I may ask, why exactly is Satoshi a suspect?’’

Jenny reached into the pocket of her uniform and pulled out a photo. The group stared at the photo with wide eyes. In the picture, there was a young boy with raven hair and tanned skin that looked exactly like Satoshi. However, Serena was immediately able to feel that his aura was very different from Satoshi’s, if that made any sense… Also, the guy from the photo had blue eyes.

‘‘Satoshi’s eyes aren’t blue,’’ Eureka complained. ‘‘How did you guys miss that?’’

‘‘Eureka!’’ Clemont said hurriedly. ‘‘That’s not the way you should talk to a police officer!’’

‘‘Don’t worry about it,’’ Officer Jenny said as she shook her head. ‘‘If all of this is just a coincidence, I can understand why you guys feel frustrated. However, the similarities are very clear, and who says the suspect didn’t just change the color of his eyes with contact lenses to disguise himself somehow?’’

Eureka huffed and looked away, slightly hiding behind Serena. ‘‘Satoshi’s still not guilty, though,’’ she grumbled.

Serena looked down at Eureka empathetically and then looked back at the officer before her. She hadn’t missed how Pikachu seemed to tense more and more with every passing second.

‘‘You’ll take him to the police station right away, right?’’

Officer Jenny nodded, and Serena continued.

‘‘Can we at least… talk to him before you take him?’’

Pikachu’s tense grip on Serena’s shoulder dissipated as his pointy ears rose in anticipation. Eureka also seemed to perk up. ‘‘Please, Officer Jenny, please!’’

The police officer looked at them with a serious demeanor for a moment before she nodded. ‘‘You may, but make it brief. He’s still a suspect and—’’

‘‘Thank you!’’ Eureka exclaimed as she and the rest of the gang moved past Officer Jenny and ran toward Satoshi. Although startled at first, the bluenette turned around and motioned to her fellows it was okay for them to let the kids talk with the suspect. When Satoshi noticed they were approaching, his face lightened up.

‘‘Guys!’’

‘‘Pika-pi!’’ Pikachu was the first one to greet him, followed by Serena.

‘‘Satoshi!’’ she began, adorning her face with a reassuring smile. ‘‘Don’t worry about a thing. They’ll take you to the nearest police station, but they’ll release you after they make sure you’re not the suspect they’re looking for.’’

Satoshi visibly relaxed at Serena’s words, but he was still slightly uneasy. ‘‘I hope this ends soon so we can get back on our journey.’’

‘‘Pika-chu,’’ the yellow Pokémon on Serena’s shoulder expressed, getting Satoshi’s attention. ‘‘Pikachu pi, pika!’’

‘‘You’re right, Pikachu!’’ Satoshi said with newfound confidence, surprising his friends. ‘‘This is just a small inconvenience, and it’ll be over soon.’’ He looked at Serena. ‘‘Here, have my Pokémon and take care of them while I’m away.’’

When Satoshi reached for the Poké Balls in his belt, the police officers that were around him saw it and immediately went to stop him. Officer Jenny had to motion for them to let him do it. Everyone in the gang sighed.

Satoshi handed over his Poké Balls to Serena right away, who took them carefully. Serena couldn’t help the warm feeling in her heart. He could’ve given them to Clemont, who was right next to her, but he confided his most precious belongings to Serena.

‘‘I promise I’ll take good care of them, Satoshi,’’ she said as she smiled confidently. Satoshi returned the smile and nodded.

‘‘I know you will,’’ Satoshi concluded when Serena stored the Poké Balls in the pockets of her vest. ‘‘And I promise I’ll be back soon,’’ he added softly.

‘‘Serena, could you come over here for a moment?’’

Serena was startled when she heard Officer Jenny’s voice calling out to her. She excused herself from the rest and walked over to her. She was surprised when she noticed Pikachu hadn’t let her shoulder, not even to stay with Satoshi. She thanked him mentally; she needed his support.

‘‘What is it, Officer Jenny?’’ she asked politely after she got closer, quickly noticing that the conversation was going to be private.

‘‘You told me that Satoshi was from Kanto, right?’’

‘‘Yes. And he knows the Pokémon Professor from there, Professor Oak.’’ Serena then glanced at the yellow Pokémon on her shoulder. ‘‘He actually gave him this Pikachu as his starter Pokémon. He’s been with him his whole journey.’’

Pikachu, happy to be recognized, nodded firmly. ‘‘Pikachu!’’

Officer Jenny looked over to Satoshi and the blond siblings as they talked. ‘‘Hm. So maybe this is what I’ve been suspecting,’’ she said, seemingly deep in thought. Serena fidgeted for some seconds before speaking up.

‘‘If I may know, what is it that you’re suspecting, miss? Can I be of any help?’’

Officer Jenny looked Serena in the eye. ‘‘You seem to be a trustworthy young girl, so I’m going to tell you.’’ When both Serena and Pikachu nodded earnestly, she proceeded. ‘‘We’ve been chasing down a very dangerous criminal for the past six months. He steals expensive goods and items all over Kalos. We call him The Kecleon, any idea why?’’

Serena thought of it for a moment. ‘‘He… disguises?’’

‘‘Exactly. He changes appearance when he realizes we’re on his track. He’s done it multiple times already.’’ Officer Jenny then raised her eyebrows, seemingly coming up with something. ‘‘Has Satoshi appeared on TV, by any chance?’’

Serena remembered that the very first time she saw him in Kalos was from that news broadcast that showed him jumping from the Prism Tower in Lumiose City to save Pikachu. She nodded in response. ‘‘Yes. He was broadcasted trying to calm down a rampaging Garchomp on the Prism Tower. It was all over the news.’’

This seemed to ultimately convince Officer Jenny. ‘‘That must be it, then.’’

Serena and Pikachu looked at each other in alert before looking back at the officer. ‘‘You’re suggesting that… Satoshi’s a victim of identity theft?!’’

‘‘Pika?!’’

‘‘We can’t be totally sure yet, but that’s the most possible option.’’ The bluenette held out her arms reassuringly when she saw Serena and Pikachu’s concerned expressions. ‘‘Don’t worry. If this is the case, we’ll do our best to stop The Kecleon before he can do any more harm. Even if that weren’t the case, he’s on the top ten most wanted criminals; we won’t let him do as he pleases. In the meantime… do you have a map?’’

Serena nodded, pulled out her guidebook and turned it on. She handed it to the waiting officer.

‘‘The nearest town, Andarus, is fifteen minutes from here,’’ she said as she set out the route on Serena’s guidebook. ‘‘There’s a Pokémon Center there where you can spend the night. The town’s quite calm and not many people pass by, so there’s bound to be room for all of you.’’

‘‘Thank you for the information!’’ exclaimed Serena after Officer Jenny returned her guidebook to her, looking at the route they were going to follow. ‘‘I’ll tell the rest and we’ll be on our way.’’

Officer Jenny nodded and smiled for the first time. ‘‘Good. If it goes well, Satoshi should be entering that very Pokémon Center by tomorrow, so wait for him there. If anything else happens, I’ll make sure to inform Nurse Joy so she can deliver the message to you. For now, we need to leave. Stay safe.’’

‘‘I will,’’ quickly answered Serena. Before she could think about it twice, she walked over to Satoshi and the others again, followed by Officer Jenny.

Both Serena and Pikachu said their temporary goodbyes to a rightly confused Satoshi, and Serena reassured him that everything was going to be okay. Just as confused, Clemont, Eureka and Dedenne also bid Satoshi farewell and saw how the police officers left with him in their motorcycles. Serena recalled Talonflame, who had been flying above all of them with concern since the police had arrived, into its Poké Ball.

Even when she knew it was going to be okay, Serena was quick to feel the void in her heart after Satoshi was no longer there with them. She held the blue ribbon closer to her chest and looked at Clemont and Eureka, taking it upon herself to lighten the mood.

‘‘Don’t worry, you guys. Like Satoshi said, this will be over soon and we’ll all continue as if nothing had happened. Hey, I bet they’ll release him by tomorrow!’’

‘‘You really think so, Serena?’’ Eureka asked, her eyes shining slightly with hope.

‘‘I’m sure! He’ll be back sooner than you expect. In the meantime, we should head to the nearest town and see if we can stay at the Pokémon Center while we wait for him to come back. What do you think, Clemont?’’

Clemont nodded assertively and adjusted his backpack. ‘‘She’s right. Satoshi’s counting on us to stay positive. Let’s continue down that path.’’

‘‘All right!’’ Eureka chimed, finally back to her cheerful self. She began to run in the same direction Satoshi and the police officers had gone and looked back at the two teenagers. ‘‘C’mon, let’s go! There’s no time to lose!’’

Serena chuckled at Eureka’s excitement and ran after her. ‘‘I’m coming!’’

‘‘Wait! Guys!’’ an already lagging Clemont exclaimed from behind. ‘‘Why do you always keep running everywhere…? Maybe we could just walk for once…’’

‘‘Come on, Clemont, you slowpoke!’’

Serena smiled at the siblings’ exchange, feeling lighter now that they had a clear objective in mind.

I’ll wait for you, Satoshi. I’ve been waiting for you since the day we met, and that’s not going to change anytime soon.

As she ran, she couldn’t help but feel responsible for Pikachu as well. Not only for his overall well-being, but also on a deeper level. She knew how important Satoshi and Pikachu’s bond was for both of them, and how they didn’t like to be apart. And so, she was going to stay positive, not only for Clemont and Eureka, but also for Pikachu and the rest of Satoshi’s Pokémon. She was going to show them how much she cared about him and to reassure them if they needed it. After all, it was her role as a Pokémon Performer to bring smiles to the faces of people and Pokémon!

Don’t worry, Pikachu, she thought as she shot a smile to the Pokémon on her shoulder, I’ll be here for you as we both wait for Satoshi.

I promise.

To everyone’s delight, they were able to stay in the Pokémon Center for the night. Officer Jenny was right; the town was calm and they didn’t encounter many people as they walked around. The Pokémon Center itself was quite small compared to others they had been to before, and so were the rooms they were staying in. Therefore, they had to book two rooms instead of one.

After they were all settled and had dinner, Serena began to explain to Clemont, Eureka and all of their Pokémon—including Satoshi’s, of course—the conversation she’d had with Officer Jenny.

She didn’t fail to notice how Eureka scooted closer to her brother after she told them about The Kecleon and the possibility of Satoshi being an oblivious victim of the criminal. That’s why, when the little blonde later told her that she was going to stay the night with her brother in the other room, Serena agreed without asking any more questions. Just like Satoshi’s Pokémon with their trainer, Eureka needed to be sure her brother would be okay.

And so, the distribution of their two rooms followed as such: Clemont, Eureka, Dedenne, Squishy and the rest of Clemont’s Pokémon stayed in one room, while Serena, Pikachu, her Pokémon and Satoshi’s Pokémon stayed in the other. When she asked the rest of Satoshi’s Pokémon if they wanted to sleep outside of their Poké Balls, they all seemed to prefer sleeping inside of them, so Serena respected their wishes. Serena’s Pokémon took a similar decision.

After she said goodnight to Clemont and Eureka, Serena finally settled down for bed. Pikachu went to sleep on a cushion Serena had placed for him on the windowsill.

They wished each other sweet dreams and Serena turned off the light.

But, unbeknownst to Serena, Pikachu was lying to her. Serena herself was lying to Pikachu, too.

Neither of them was going to sleep that night.

Serena was startled when she felt something slowly getting into her bedsheets. She grabbed the edge and raised it curiously, revealing a mostly yellow shape. The shape flinched slightly and moved back to look at her, realizing it had gotten caught.

Pikachu?

She then voiced her thoughts, keeping her tone low since it was nighttime. Pikachu almost looked apologetic, but Serena noticed there was something more behind his expression. She sat down on the bed and smiled knowingly at the yellow mouse.

‘‘You’re worried about Satoshi, aren’t you?’’ she said as she shifted on the mattress to sit Lotus-style. Pikachu quickly scooted closer when Serena beckoned to him. He nodded, letting out an almost inaudible Pika. ‘‘Don’t worry, he’ll be back tomorrow. He promised, and you know how he is when he makes a promise… unstoppable. He’s really stubborn too.’’

Pikachu smiled slightly at this, looking nostalgic. Serena then grinned and grabbed her pillow, adjusting it on the wall and resting her back against it.

‘‘Pi…kachu?’’ Pikachu asked curiously.

‘‘We won’t be sleeping anytime soon, will we? So… why don’t we spend this time bonding?’’ Pikachu’s smile widened, seemingly interested in her idea. ‘‘Tell me some anecdote of your adventures with Satoshi!’’ Quickly enough, Pikachu tilted his head and stared at her, both in amusement and confusion. ‘‘Okay, okay. I know I can’t understand Pikachu language, but that doesn’t mean we can’t try! After all, I bet you’re aching to tell someone who’s not a Pokémon about your experiences, aren’t you?’’

‘‘Pikachu!’’ He laughed slightly as in ‘All right, you have a point there.’

‘‘So you’ll do it? Yay!’’ Serena cheered, quickly putting a hand over her mouth when she realized she had raised her voice. Both of them stayed silent for some seconds and, fortunately, nothing happened. Everyone else was still asleep. The pair looked at each other with a guilty smile.

‘‘All right, let’s start with something simple. Hmm…’’ Serena raised her index finger to her chin and tapped it a few times. ‘‘Oh, I got it! How was the first day of your journey? The day Satoshi and you became partners!’’

Pikachu blinked twice and then imitated Serena’s gesture as he seemed to be thinking (although he raised his whole paw to grab his chin). He smiled and snapped his fingers. ‘‘Pika!’’

Pikachu pointed to the clock on the wall some meters away. Serena stared at it, not getting it at first. Then Pikachu exclaimed his name, attracting back her attention. He walked over to the spot Serena’s pillow had been and pretended to be sleeping soundly.

‘‘Um… Is that supposed to be Satoshi sleeping?’’

Pikachu perked up and nodded quickly, seemingly satisfied by her guessing.

‘‘All right.’’ Serena hummed in thought. ‘‘So you pointed at the clock and then mimicked Satoshi sleeping… The clock, sleeping… You mean Satoshi’s alarm clock?’’ Pikachu nodded tentatively, as in ‘More or less.’

‘‘Pikachu pi,’’ Pikachu said and went back to pretending to be asleep. Serena nodded and stared, concentrating to get it right. Satoshi’s partner then imitated what Serena recognized to be the alarm clock’s sounds, although he kept it low for only Serena to hear. Pi, pi, pi. He stopped making the sounds and jumped, seemingly startled by something. He looked around until his gaze landed on the clock. Serena finally understood when Pikachu’s eyes widened after he saw the time.

Serena giggled as she witnessed a representation of a younger Satoshi being late to Professor Oak’s lab. Pikachu put his paws on both of his cheeks, exclaiming a mortified ‘Pika!’

The Pokémon finished his acting by rushing to the door, the fact that Satoshi had gone out of the room being clear enough. Pikachu walked back to Serena’s bed and climbed on it, looking at the amused girl expectantly.

‘‘Let’s see… You’re telling me that Satoshi was late to the only event he wasn’t supposed to be late to?’’

Pikachu smirked and tilted his head. Serena translated his next ‘Pika pi’ to ‘I know, right?’

‘‘I never thought Satoshi could be late to such an important ceremony…’’ She smiled fondly as thoughts of a disheveled Satoshi in his pajamas arriving at Oak’s lab entered her mind. Well, it wasn’t too surprising. He was just starting back then, and she’d witnessed how much of a dork he could be. She shifted her position again, grabbing the pillow and placing it on its original spot. She rested her head on the pillow and smiled at Pikachu. ‘‘What happened next?’’

Pikachu thought about it for a moment, looking around the room. Then, he spotted the familiar design of a Poké Ball that decorated the floor at the center of the room and pointed at it. After making sure Serena was looking, Pikachu ran and stepped on it. He then jumped forward and looked Serena in the eye with an adorable smile.

‘‘Pikachu,’’ he crooned. His tone was so cute that Serena could feel her heart warming up.

When she noticed Pikachu was looking at her expectantly, she guessed. ‘‘That’s you coming out of your Poké Ball when Satoshi arrived, isn’t it?’’

Pikachu’s smile widened and he nodded, probably proud of his mimicking skills.

‘‘Then… what did you do?’’ asked Serena, her blue eyes focused on Satoshi’s partner.

The electric mouse smirked and pointed at his red cheeks. He released short charges of electricity from them. When Serena looked confused, Pikachu looked around the room again. Seemingly not finding anything to help him this time, he did his best impression of Satoshi: he adjusted the brim of an invisible cap on his head and pretended to throw a Poké Ball in the air just like his trainer usually did. Serena caught on quickly, giggling softly.

‘‘You’re Satoshi!’’

‘‘Pi!’’ he nodded.

‘‘Okay, so electricity and Satoshi…’’ she wondered out loud.

‘‘Pika,’’ he said to grab her attention. He pointed at himself.

‘‘Okay. You.’’

Pikachu nodded. Then, he released electricity from his cheeks again.

‘‘You, electricity…’’

Pikachu did his imitation of Satoshi again.

‘‘You, electricity, Satoshi…’’ Serena suddenly sat up. ‘‘You electrocuted Satoshi?!’’

‘‘Cha!’’ Pikachu laughed wholeheartedly at Serena’s bewildered expression. He jumped back on the bed and nodded.

‘‘Was it on accident?’’

Pikachu shook his head, still smiling.

‘‘I… I thought you guys were good friends since the beginning,’’ Serena exclaimed, very surprised by this new information. Pikachu shook his head again, confirming that he and Satoshi had indeed gotten off to a rough start.

Serena was intrigued. She had thought that the Satoshi she knew from Professor Oak’s Summer Camp would’ve had an awesome journey from the beginning.

However, instead of thinking less of Satoshi, this discovery about him enamored Serena even more. He was the most amazing person she knew, and now she had learned that he’d had to work very hard in order to become who he was nowadays. It made her feel better about the start of her own journey, too. After all, she hadn’t known what to do from the very start, but later on, she was able to find her true passion and has been developing her skills since then.

Satoshi wasn’t next to her right now, but somehow, she felt closer to him than ever.

She looked at Pikachu, Satoshi’s loyal partner, and settled back on her pillow. ‘‘So… what exactly happened that made you guys bond for the first time?’’

Pikachu stared at her for some seconds. He then looked down and smiled fondly.

‘‘Pika, pi…’’

Serena could easily recognize the longing in Pikachu’s eyes. The moment that changed everything between a new trainer and his very first Pokémon. She smiled at how wholesome that memory seemed to be.

Her fondness changed to confusion when she saw Pikachu was trying to fly from where he was.

‘‘Uhhh… Pikachu?’’

‘‘Pika!’’ The electric mouse continued to flap his hypothetical wings as he went around the room. Serena knew he was trying to tell her about his ‘bonding moment’ with Satoshi, although she also knew that, at that point, just mimicking it wouldn’t help. (It was quite funny, though.)

The third thing she knew is that she was sleepy, a feeling that was betrayed when she yawned.

‘‘Hey, Pikachu,’’ said Serena softly to her temporal partner. Pikachu stopped to look at her. ‘‘Come here.’’ Serena patted the mattress with a smile.

Pikachu, who also seemed to be worn off from his mimic session, quickly complied. Serena caressed his head just like Satoshi had done earlier, knowing the gesture was something Pikachu liked.

‘‘I know you’re excited to tell me more about it, but it’s probably the middle of the night and…’’ Serena yawned again. ‘‘I think we’re finally ready to sleep. We really should get some sleep so we’re at our best capacities tomorrow, don’t you think?’’

The yellow mouse nodded slowly before Serena’s yawn infected him too. ‘‘Chaaa…’’

Serena grinned at the cute Pokémon and spread her arms invitingly. Pikachu walked on all fours and lay next to Serena, getting comfortable between her arms.

‘‘Goodnight, Pikachu.’’

‘‘Pika-chu.’’

Serena gazed at Pikachu’s sleepy face for a moment before closing her eyes.

‘‘I wish I could understand… exactly what you want to tell me,’’ she whispered, her words almost inaudible. That was the last thing she remembered that night.

Unbeknownst to everyone around, a shooting star was passing by. It stopped when it sensed that a pure soul nearby was making a wish. Spreading the yellow flaps underneath its tiny white arms, it got closer to the wisher’s presence. It loomed over a honey-blonde girl that was holding a Pikachu with tenderness in her arms. The girl was already sleeping, her diaphragm raising and lowering peacefully.

Jirachi recognized the wish involving the girl and what seemed to be her Pikachu. At the same time, it acknowledged the bond that was flourishing between Pokémon and trainer, their pure desire for communication and to be able to expand their horizons. It smiled with curiosity at the implications.

After thinking about it for a while, Jirachi grinned and giggled. The eye on its belly opened and gleamed in the moonlight before closing again.

The shooting star continued its course soon after, content with its actions.

Chapter Text

‘‘Wake up, Serena!’’

The honey-blonde hummed; she was too content in her slumber to acknowledge the voice. She hummed even louder and frowned when someone suddenly pulled the bedsheets off her body. The late morning breeze made her shiver slightly when it flowed through her now exposed arms.

‘‘Wakey wakey!’’ the voice tried again.

‘‘No… too comfy,’’ she murmured. She reached blindly for the bedsheets and pulled them back onto her shoulders. Soon enough, she heard an exasperated sigh.

‘‘You’re so stubborn. You remind me of Satoshi sometimes.’’

Serena froze at that.

What…

Whose voice was that? Why did it sound so familiar and yet somewhat foreign? I must be dreaming, she thought. And, just like that, her will to continue sleeping dissipated as she was reminded of the obvious.

I can’t sleep forever; I need to actually start the day sometime.

She slowly sat on the mattress and yawned. Small tears formed after the yawn and she wiped them softly with her fingers, her eyes still closed because of her lingering sleepiness.

‘‘Till you finally woke up!’’ She stopped moving altogether and opened her eyes as she processed the words that came from somewhere to her left. That voice again. ‘‘For a second, I was wondering whether or not I should wake you up with a little shock.’’

Serena frowned, very confused. When she turned to the origin of the strange voice, her eyes widened like saucers. A very familiar Pikachu grinned up at her nonchalantly.

‘‘Just kidding!’’ he said.

She gasped. ‘‘P-Pikachu?!’’

Pikachu startled slightly at her reaction. ‘‘Oh? What is it?’’

After some seconds, Serena got slightly closer to the Pokémon and squinted, trying to understand what was going on. This needs to be some sort of prank. The yellow mouse simply tilted his head at her, confused. Serena then nodded and backed off slightly.

‘‘This is a prank, right?’’ she asked Pikachu before she began to look around the room. ‘‘Good one, guys! You got me. You can come out now!’’

She looked everywhere, trying to find Clemont and Eureka. However, the only sounds she heard were from the Fletchling occasionally chirping outside. If Eureka really were there, she would be giggling by now. And Clemont wouldn’t just prank her like that without his sister’s influence. Now she was 100% confused.

‘‘Serena?’’

There it is again. She set her blue eyes back on Pikachu, not knowing what to think anymore. Pikachu looked concerned.

‘‘What are you talking about? Are you okay?’’

She continued to stare at Satoshi’s partner and was about to truly freak out before she reached a different conclusion. ‘‘I must still be dreaming,’’ she began, nodding again. ‘‘Uh-huh, that’s it. I’m dreaming.’’ She lay back down on the mattress and looked at the ceiling in contemplation. ‘‘And yes, I’m okay, talking Pikachu,’’ she commented with slight amusement.

‘‘Talking—’’ There was a sudden pause. ‘‘Pika… pika?’’

Serena whipped her head to the side and looked at Pikachu in disbelief. ‘‘Oh, now you’re back to Pikachu language?’’

Pikachu blinked twice, mouth hanging slightly open. He then hummed, seemingly thinking about something. He looked Serena in the eye when he spoke next.

‘‘What if I say… that Satoshi can be as dense as a rock?’’

‘‘I already knew that,’’ Serena replied right away, very amused.

Pikachu gasped. ‘‘So you do understand exactly what I say!’’ he exclaimed, his dark eyes opened wide.

‘‘That’s what surprised me the most, dream Pikachu.’’

He shook his head emphatically. ‘‘It’s not a dream! I just woke you up, Serena!’’

Serena pinched herself to confirm she wasn’t dreaming. To her surprise, she was still there afterward, in front of an alerted Pikachu.

‘‘What the…’’

They both stared at each other for five solid seconds… and then proceeded to scream.

‘‘I literally understand you!’’

‘‘You understand me!’’

‘‘Why do I understand you?!’’

‘‘Don't ask me!’’

Serena backed off and grabbed the edge of her bed sheets to shield herself. After she continued to stare at a shocked Pikachu for some seconds, she realized how absurd that was. Alright, he could somehow talk now, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t still, well, Pikachu.

‘‘O-okay…’’ she began, lowering the covers and reaching out to pet Pikachu. Pikachu seemed to understand her intentions and got closer slowly, letting her touch his head. Both of them smiled at the interaction. ‘‘This is… nuts.’’

Pikachu’s smile widened. ‘‘Yeah, no joke.’’

Serena almost flinched. It was just so weird, being able to understand Pikachu perfectly after all of those simple Pika-pika’s. And then, it all clicked.

Serena gasped and withdrew her hand from Pikachu’s head. The latter looked up at her in surprise.

‘‘This was my wish!’’ she exclaimed, finally connecting the dots.

‘‘Your… wish?’’

‘‘Yeah! Don’t you remember last night, right before we fell asleep?’’

Pikachu seemed to think for a moment before he matched Serena’s previous gasp. Did he always gasp like that or could that also be interpreted as ‘Pika’? Serena didn’t know.

‘‘I remember! You wished you could understand me!’’

‘‘Holy Rhyhorn… This is insane!’’ She got closer to Pikachu, the meaning of this wish come true finally dawning on her. ‘‘But… How could that be…?’’

Pikachu shrugged, or Serena interpreted what he did with his little arms as a shrug. ‘‘If every wish would come true like that, Satoshi would already be a Pokémon Master,’’ he said.

Serena looked at Pikachu empathetically. Satoshi’s wish to become a Pokémon Master had to be the purest wish in the universe, and Pikachu most probably wanted that just as much as his trainer. Now that she had a wish of her own, she could totally understand… just like she could now understand Pikachu!

She couldn’t say for sure that she was the only human that was able to understand a Pokémon. After all, she remembered how their encounter with Valerie had gone. She and her fairy Pokémon shared a very profound bond, and she could speak their language.

But this thing she now had with Pikachu… Was it because of a bond? A bond she had with Pikachu? Or maybe his trainer?! What if she had a truly strong bond with Satoshi and that allowed her to communicate with his closest Pokémon?!

‘‘Earth to Serena?’’

She could just imagine the possibilities. What if fate had actually brought them together because of their bond?

‘‘Serena Serena, are you still there?!’’

Pikachu’s words broke Serena’s reverie, and the latter looked back at him. She raised an eyebrow. ‘‘Serena Serena?’’

Pikachu looked at her with what seemed to be an apologetic smile.

‘‘Sorry. I don’t know your last name, but I still needed to sound firm so you’d look at me.’’

Serena laughed lightheartedly at Pikachu and his antics.

‘‘I’m sorry for getting distracted. This is just so crazy… I’m trying to understand why.’’

‘‘The why isn’t so important.’’

Serena stayed quiet, feeling that Pikachu was going to make a point. The whole situation was still so weird.

‘‘I mean, for all we know, you wished you could understand me and somehow your wish was granted, right?’’

Serena nodded slowly.

‘‘So this is it!’’ Pikachu smiled and began to gesture excitedly. ‘‘You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to be able to talk with a human properly. I have so many things to say, so many comments that only my Pokémon friends could understand… and now you do too!’’

‘‘Oh my Arceus…’’ Pikachu’s exciting demeanor got to Serena right away. ‘‘You’re so right! This is truly amazing!’’

Maybe she had a bond with Satoshi, and maybe she didn’t. But most importantly, today Serena woke up and was able to understand Satoshi’s Pikachu perfectly! This could change everything!

‘‘Ohhh, just wait till Satoshi learns about this… Oh! This is the best thing ever!’’

Both of them laughed cheerfully for a while… until they realized a crucial detail.

‘‘Satoshi!’’ they shouted in unison.

Serena got ready in record time and exited her room with Pikachu on her shoulder.

Clemont and Eureka had stayed in the neighboring room. When Serena checked the clock watch, she realized it was almost midday, and Clemont and Eureka were probably already in the common area of the Pokémon Center downstairs. She confirmed it when she knocked on the door of their room and only got silence as a response, so she decided to go downstairs directly.

‘‘Okay, so we’ll test them first, right?’’ Pikachu asked from her shoulder, his voice eager with anticipation.

‘‘Yep! We need to confirm if only I can understand you.’’

Serena was slightly conflicted. It could be awesome if not only she could understand Pikachu, but it would also mean that maybe her bond with Satoshi wouldn’t be so special after all…

She shook her head and smiled. Either way, this promised to be fun!

After they reached the lower floor, Serena looked around to see if she could spot the blond siblings. Soon enough, she saw them talking at one of the couches of the common area.

Serena and Pikachu looked at each other and nodded, trying to remain serious as Serena approached the siblings.

‘‘Good morning Clemont, Eureka!’’

The siblings turned to look at Serena and their faces lightened up in sync.

‘‘Good morning Serena, Pikachu,’’ Clemont greeted them with a warm smile. ‘‘We were wondering where you guys were.’’

‘‘Sorry about that! I…’’ Serena glanced at Pikachu's knowing expression and looked back at Clemont, sporting a nonchalant smile. ‘‘Overslept.’’

‘‘Serena!’’ Before Serena could react, Eureka rushed and hugged her by the waist. ‘‘Good morning!’’ the blonde girl said, looking up at her. Serena felt her heart warming from the little girl’s actions.

‘‘Good morning, Eureka,’’ she replied as she caressed the little girl’s hair. ‘‘I’m glad you're feeling better.’’

‘‘Mm-hmm!’’ hummed Eureka. She released her grip on Serena and took her hand to guide her to the couch. Serena complied and sat down next to her, Pikachu also sitting in the space between them. ‘‘I realized I needed to stay positive, just like you said!’’

Serena’s smile widened. She saw Eureka as a cute little sister that always wanted the best for her friends and whose actions were filled with sheer innocence and determination. Serena was truly happy that the little girl had brightened up thanks to her positivism.

‘‘I'm so proud of you, Eureka! And Satoshi will be proud when he comes back, too,’’ Serena said. Clemont was quick to agree with her.

‘‘Absolutely. You’ve grown so much, Eureka,’’ he said with noticeable pride.

‘‘Ne-ne!’’ added Dedenne from Clemont’s lap.

Eureka grinned and then focused her attention on Pikachu, staring at him curiously.

‘‘Hey, Pikachu!’’ Said Pokémon raised his gaze and grinned back at her. ‘‘You're so quiet! Why? Are you worried about Satoshi?’’ the little blonde asked, empathetically.

Pikachu’s ears rose slightly from the sudden question, and he looked at Serena, the latter doing the same almost in sync. Serena winked subtlety at Pikachu and he nodded.

‘‘I’m perfectly fine, Eureka. Thanks for asking!’’ Pikachu exclaimed cheerfully.

Serena and Pikachu got closer to each other in anticipation, waiting for a loud reaction of surprise from the siblings.

...

However, instead of being surprised, Eureka just smiled sweetly at the yellow mouse and petted his head. ‘‘I’m glad you’re feeling okay, Pikachu!’’

Eureka had probably guessed what Pikachu had said from his cheerful tone.

Pikachu welcomed the petting, closing the eye that was closest to her hand. He looked at Serena with his other eye. ‘‘Guess it is just you, Serena,’’ he voiced what both of them were thinking.

‘‘Mm-hmm,’’ the honey-blonde agreed in a low tone.

‘‘Yes! Pika-pika for you too, Pikachu!’’ Eureka said as she giggled and continued petting Pikachu. He and Serena made eye contact again and couldn't help but laugh.

Clemont perked up with curiosity. ‘‘What’s so funny?’’

‘‘Oh, nothing,’’ Serena said, all the while holding a hand up to her mouth to muffle her laughter. ‘‘It’s just that—’’

She was interrupted by a low growl that was coming from Pikachu. Upon closer inspection, it came from his tummy. Clemont and Eureka quickly noticed it as well.

‘‘Pikachu, you silly. Why didn’t you tell us you were hungry?’’ Eureka asked him, almost like a worried mom. Pikachu rubbed the back of his head with an embarrassed smile.

‘‘Right!’’ chimed Clemont. ‘‘You guys haven’t eaten breakfast yet, have you?’’

Serena shrugged, relieved that her tummy hadn’t been the one growling. ‘‘We pretty much just exited our room, so…’’

‘‘Wait here, then,’’ the young inventor said, standing up from the couch. ‘‘I’ll get you and your Pokémon some food. I saved it when you didn't come down earlier so it would stay fresh.’’

Serena quickly remembered that she wasn’t taking care of Pikachu only. ‘‘Hey, Clemont!’’ she called.

‘‘Yes?’’

‘‘Could you please bring more Pokémon food for the rest of Satoshi’s Pokémon? Knowing them, they all must be very hungry too.’’

‘‘Of course!’’

‘‘Thank you!’’

After Clemont left to fetch their food, Serena carefully grabbed both her and Satoshi’s Poké Balls from her pockets and released their Pokémon. Braixen, Pancham and Sylveon were the first to come out. Then out came Greninja, Talonflame, Hawlucha and Noivern.

‘‘Good morning, everyone!’’ Serena smiled at them. She glanced at the clock and realized it was already past noon. ‘‘Well… good afternoon, that is,’’ she added apologetically.

Her Pokémon got closer and greeted her just as she saw Pikachu and Eureka stand from the couch to greet the rest.

‘‘Brai, braix!’’

‘‘Pancham!’’

‘‘Sylvie!’’

Serena kneeled in front of her team. ‘‘Hey everyone! I’m sorry for keeping you waiting. Don’t worry; Clemont's bringing our food right now. And after that…’’ Serena paused and searched for something in her bag. Soon after, she pulled out her special brush. ‘‘I’ll take care of your fur!’’

‘‘Braixen!’’ her starter was quick to celebrate. She loved getting her fur groomed. Serena’s hairbrush had been with her from the beginning and had gone through thick and thin, but she still managed to use it properly to leave her Pokémon’s fur smooth and shiny.

(Maybe she should buy a new one soon, though. She would think about that later.)

Sylveon then approached Serena and embraced her arm with her feelers to show her gratitude. Conversely, Pancham stayed where he was, crossing his arms and trying to appear indifferent. However, Serena knew he was just as excited as his fellow Pokémon.

Eureka walked closer to Serena, seemingly in the middle of complaining to herself. ‘‘What’s my brother doing? Everyone’s hungry and he’s nowhere to be seen!’’

‘‘Maybe he's having trouble carrying the food?’’ Serena offered as an explanation. Eureka huffed.

‘‘I’ll go check on him, he’s probably in trouble.’’ She turned around and headed in the same direction her brother had gone to. ‘‘What would he even do without me?’’ she wondered aloud as she left, Dedenne following her diligently. Serena smiled in amusement.

‘‘Noi, noivern?’’

Serena and her Pokémon looked from Eureka to Satoshi’s Noivern, who seemed to be asking Pikachu something.

‘‘The food’s on its way, Noivern, don’t worry,’’ answered Pikachu, reassuring the big bat. ‘‘We all know how you need to be fed in order to fly properly during battle.’’

‘‘Pikachu’s right, Noivern! I apologize again for making you skip breakfast,’’ Serena said from her spot. ‘‘You’ll eat and then you’ll be able to fly to your highest capacity in no time.’’

All of the Pokémon blinked once… and twice… and then five more times. Before Serena could understand what she had done, she was surrounded by all of them. She went from kneeling to sitting down on the ground out of surprise.

‘‘Wha— Guys, what's going on?!’’ she asked, bewildered. Everyone was talking at the same time.

‘‘Ninja, ninja?’’

‘‘Lucha?’’

‘‘Flame, talon!’’

Serena could sense they were trying to get her to answer something, but she didn’t understand what. Even her own Pokémon were looking at her with sheer curiosity.

Pikachu also seemed perplexed at the other Pokémon’s reaction. He jumped to her shoulder and spoke up.

‘‘Everyone, settle down!’’

To Serena’s relief, they quieted down shortly after. She wasn’t too surprised by the fact that Pikachu was their leader, considering he was Satoshi’s very best friend and partner.

‘‘Okay,’’ Pikachu continued once it got quiet. ‘‘Why are you guys acting like this? And— SAY IT ONE AT A TIME!’’ he exclaimed when everyone began to talk all at once again.

Soon after, Greninja raised his hand and Pikachu motioned for him to speak.

‘‘Greninja, ja. Ninja, ninja-ja?’’

‘‘Well, that’s because…’’ Pikachu suddenly paused, seemingly realizing something. ‘‘Oh.’’

Serena stared at him, confused. ‘‘What is it?’’

Pikachu turned to her. ‘‘We blew our cover already. Well, you did.’’

Serena kept staring. ‘‘Huh?’’

‘‘You heard me calming Noivern down, and then talked in a way that showed you actually understood word for word what I was saying.’’

Serena froze. She very slowly turned around to the rest of the Pokémon, who were looking at her expectantly.

‘‘So yeah. Now they all know,’’ Pikachu finished.

Serena smiled awkwardly at them. ‘‘Haha… Pika-pika…?’’

‘‘BRAIXEN!’’

‘‘PANCHAM CHAM?!’’

‘‘SYL, SYLVEON!’’

‘‘YOU GUYS!’’ Pikachu raised his voice once again. ‘‘She can't understand all of you. She can only understand me.’’

They all blinked in silence.

‘‘…Lucha.’’

Pikachu chuckled at whatever Hawlucha had said. Serena raised an eyebrow. ‘‘What did he say?’’

‘‘«Well, that certainly adds up»,’’ Pikachu replied as he quoted the Wrestling Pokémon.

‘‘He said all of that in just one ‘Lucha’?’’

‘‘Are you surprised? You now know how much I can say in just one Pika.’’

‘‘Huh… fair enough,’’ she responded, feeling a little silly.

‘‘Braix.’’

Both Serena and Pikachu turned around to address Braixen, who was the closest to her out of her whole team.

‘‘Hmm? What is it, Braixen?’’ Serena asked her starter.

‘‘Braixen braix?’’

Pikachu provided a translation before Serena had to ask. ‘‘Braixen’s asking how this happened. You know, you being able to understand me.’’

‘‘Oh…’’ She looked at her dear Braixen and then at the other Pokémon, all of their gazes holding the very same question. ‘‘To be honest with you guys… We… have no idea…?’’

All of them gaped in response.

‘‘Yeah,’’ Pikachu deadpanned, still on Serena's shoulder. ‘‘All we know is that Serena made a wish last night and it somehow came true.’’

What Pikachu said only managed to raise more questions from the other Pokémon, so Serena continued.

‘‘We were bonding over Satoshi not being there, and so Pikachu decided to tell me the story of Satoshi’s first day as a trainer. However, since I couldn’t get his words, he mimicked everything to me.’’

To Serena’s surprise, Greninja chuckled from where he was and mumbled something, making other Pokémon around him laugh along. She noticed Pikachu glaring at the blue Pokémon.

‘‘Very funny, Greninja. I’ll have you know I make a very nice flying Pikachu,’’ he said with confidence.

Talonflame couldn’t resist anymore and began to laugh wholeheartedly. Serena looked at Pikachu inquisitively. The yellow mouse sighed.

‘‘Satoshi and I were chased by Spearows on the way to our very first Pokémon Center, and that was the first moment I felt like I needed to protect him.’’

Serena’s eyes widened with recognition. ‘‘Oh! So that's what you were trying to say when you began to move your arms like this…’’ Serena imitated a bird-like Pokémon flapping its wings. This prompted the other Pokémon to roar with laughter.

Pikachu rolled his eyes at everyone, smiling despite himself. Serena also smiled, enjoying their little moment.

So Pikachu does share stories of Satoshi’s prior adventures with his Pokémon friends, she thought. Pokémon aren’t so different from humans, after all…

‘‘Anyway…’’ Pikachu continued. ‘‘After a while, I ran out of ways to tell Serena the rest of the story, and we were getting drowsy, so we decided to go back to sleep. Right before we fell asleep, Serena whispered that she wished she could actually understand me.’’

‘‘And that’s pretty much it,’’ Serena said, finishing the ‘explanation’. ‘‘This morning, Pikachu woke me up, and soon after we realized I could indeed understand what he was saying, word for word.’’

The Pokémon listened attentively till the end, some of them humming as they thought about the situation.

‘‘…Lucha.’’

Pikachu nodded. ‘‘Yep, we said exactly the same. It is nuts.’’

Serena stayed silent for a moment, looking at Hawlucha… and then began to laugh. Pikachu was about to ask her what had gotten into her, but soon enough he was laughing too. It was ridiculous!

The rest proceeded to laugh as well. Hawlucha still didn’t know if they were laughing at him or at the situation, but he decided to settle for the last option for his own sake.

Clemont then appeared with bags of Pokémon food, his little sister trailing behind him with plates to deposit the food in.

‘‘Sorry to keep you all waiting, g—’’

Clemont and Eureka were surprised to find Serena laughing wholeheartedly with the rest of the Pokémon as they all surrounded her. Dedenne left Eureka’s purse and ran toward the group, intrigued.

The blond siblings shared a glance, before quickly joining the group as well.

‘‘What's so funny, guys?’’ Serena, Pikachu and the others quieted down slightly when they heard Eureka. The little girl grinned and pointed at herself. ‘‘Tell me! Eureka wants to laugh too!’’

‘‘Hey, Eureka,’’ Serena greeted her cheerfully. She wiped a tear of laughter from the corner of her eye and stood up, cleansing her clothes. ‘‘It's just that… Well, it’s a long story. The thing is—’’

Serena suddenly felt Pikachu squeezing her shoulder. She glanced at him.

‘‘Do you think you can save the explanation for after we eat? I’m starving here.’’

She heard some other Pokémon agreeing with Pikachu. She shook her head, smiling.

‘‘Clemont, Eureka, I’ll tell you guys everything… after we eat.’’

All the Pokémon cheered, making her laugh again.

The siblings were confused at this exchange, but they also understood that they were all hungry, so they settled down for lunchtime.

‘‘So you had a little… problem with the bag of Pokémon food,’’ Serena said to Clemont as they ate, amused. Clemont sighed, blushing slightly in embarrassment.

‘‘Yeah…’’

Eureka, who was sitting next to her older brother, shook her head and threw him a disappointed look. ‘‘You need to be more careful, bro!’’

Clemont raised his eyebrows at the offender, pouting soon after. ‘‘How could I know it was already opened from the other side?!’’

‘‘You could’ve checked, you know?’’ retorted Eureka, done with her brother’s clumsiness. ‘‘You’re lucky you had me at your side to help you pick up every little piece of food before anyone came in!’’

‘‘And I thank you for that, Eureka, but you also need to understand that people make mistakes sometimes!’’

Serena smiled, amused with the siblings’ banter. She became even more amused after she heard Pikachu talking as he ate, though.

‘‘Oh, glorious food at last!’’ the yellow mouse exclaimed, picking portion after portion and stuffing it into his mouth.

The rest of Satoshi’s Pokémon were also exclaiming things as they ate, and Serena wondered if what they were saying was similar to Pikachu’s words.

‘‘But at least I am careful! Right, Serena?’’

Serena’s eyes widened at the sudden mention of her name and she turned to look at Eureka.

‘‘Uh…’’ Both siblings were staring at her, waiting for a response. Serena smiled apologetically. ‘‘Sorry, I was distracted with something. What’d you say?’’

Eureka pouted at Serena’s lack of attention to their discussion. At the same time, Clemont raised an eyebrow inquisitively.

‘‘What’s the matter, Serena?’’

‘‘Huh?’’

‘‘You've been acting weird today. Is there a problem? You know you can talk to us about anything. We’re all friends and we’re here to help you,’’ he said with honesty.

Eureka stopped pouting after she realized her brother’s serious demeanor.

‘‘My bro's right! You can tell us anything!’’ Eureka seemed to think about something for a moment. Her face brightened up after some seconds, a certain idea forming in her mind. She smirked at the honey-blonde. ‘‘Are you worried about Satoshi, Serena?’’

Serena flinched. Something in Eureka’s tone indicated that she wasn’t simply talking about a friend being worried about another friend. And Serena didn’t need Eureka’s teasing right now! She was dealing with a very big thing, so they absolutely weren’t going to have another Serena-loves-Satoshi conversation.

‘‘Look guys, I’m okay, I promise!’’ she said, giving them her most reassuring smile. ‘‘But there is something happening,’’ she then admitted. 

She called out to Pikachu and beckoned him to get on the table. Pikachu looked from the siblings to Serena, understanding what she wanted. Therefore, the yellow mouse finished the last portion of his food and jumped onto the table, giving the siblings his signature smile.

‘‘Okay… How do we do this…’’ Serena wondered aloud. ‘‘Oh, I know!’’ She turned to the expectant pair. ‘‘Say, is there something that you’ve only told Pikachu, and no one else?’’

They both blinked at the question. However, Eureka was quick to answer.

‘‘Yes! Dedenne’s birthday. I plan to keep it a secret from everyone else until the day comes so it could be a massive surprise party!’’

‘‘Interesting…’’ Serena said, deciding not to ask how a wild Dedenne could know about its own birth date and then tell someone about it. She turned to a certain yellow Pokémon. ‘‘Pikachu?’’

Pikachu nodded at Serena. ‘‘It’s on October 17th,’’ he said with ease.

Serena nodded back after hearing his answer. ‘‘Sorry Eureka, I know you wanted to keep it a secret, but… What kind of present would Dedenne like for its birthday… on October 17th?’’

Eureka’s eyes and jaw opened wide. ‘‘W–what?! How do you know that? Only Pikachu knows!’’

‘‘He just told me,’’ Serena said, motioning at Pikachu with a tilt of her head.

As Eureka was trying to decipher what was going on, Clemont had a different train of thought. He adjusted his glasses, seemingly inspecting Pikachu.

‘‘Serena…’’

She smiled innocently. ‘‘Yeah?’’

‘‘You created a system that allows you to understand Pikachu! How impressive!’’

Serena and Pikachu shared a long look.

‘‘…What?’’ she asked the young inventor.

‘‘Why didn’t you tell me sooner? I’d love to hear more about your system! Tell me, how did ‘pika pikachu pi’ tell you it was on October 17th? And how did you decipher it so quickly?’’

Serena held her hands up to calm Clemont down, for he was quickly getting all excited about the alleged system she had created.

‘‘No, Clemont, it’s not… Let’s see…’’ Coming up with another idea, she pointed a finger at Pikachu. ‘‘Whisper something very technical and scientific to Pikachu.’’

Clemont and Pikachu both blinked. The former thought about something to say for some seconds.

‘‘Okay… If that’s what you want…’’ he said as he motioned for Pikachu to get closer. The yellow Pokémon walked over to him on the table and perked his ear close to Clemont’s face.

Clemont began to whisper.

Pikachu raised an invisible eyebrow.

Then he opened his mouth slightly.

Then he frowned.

Then he looked hopelessly confused.

Then he looked terrified.

And then he just seemed to give up.

After Clemont finished whispering, Pikachu slowly walked over back to Serena’s side of the table. Serena looked at him expectantly.

‘‘So?’’ she asked.

‘‘Look… It’s no use. He lost me in the middle of the third word,’’ Pikachu replied.

Serena sighed heavily, shaking her head.

‘‘Let's just tell them directly.’’

‘‘Good enough for me.’’

Silence filled the whole common area as Serena’s words were registering in two blond siblings’ heads. A pin falling off would be able to break such a quiet environment. The rest of the Pokémon stopped eating upon noticing the sudden lack of sounds.

After some seconds that felt like hours, the older sibling finally spoke.

‘‘Wait, what?’’

‘‘It’s exactly what you heard,’’ Serena replied with an amused smile. Pikachu nodded by her side and rubbed his head sheepishly. Clemont’s gaze shifted from Serena to the yellow mouse, seemingly searching for any sign that could indicate they were joking. Eureka was surprisingly still quiet, looking a little pensive, even.

She then got closer to Pikachu on the table. ‘‘You can understand everything Pikachu says,’’ she murmured, parroting what Serena had said some moments earlier. Both Serena and Pikachu nodded at that. Her quietness shifted into high-pitched admiration so fast that everyone almost covered their ears as a reflex. ‘‘THAT’S SO COOL!! WHAT HAS HE TOLD YOU? DOES HE SPEAK HUMAN WORDS? HOW DOES HE SOUND? HE PROBABLY SOUNDS ADORABLE!’’

Pikachu flinched, being the closest to the excited girl. ‘‘Eureka, calm down…’’

That only managed to make her more excited. ‘‘What did he just say?!’’ She turned to Serena expectantly. Serena sighed fondly and repeated Pikachu’s exact words. Eureka gasped. ‘‘Did he actually say my name? He said my name!’’ She giggled like a school girl would at her crush saying her name. This time was an even more special situation though, since it wasn’t every day you could be so sure about a Pokémon’s speech toward you.

Serena could agree; hearing Pikachu say her name was still a weird experience. She liked it all the same. However, the name she liked to hear the most out of Pikachu’s mouth was Satoshi’s. He always said it with such brightness and firmness, like he was just so proud of whom his trainer was. No; Satoshi was, more than his trainer, his best friend in the whole world. That kind of unwavering pride when it came to Satoshi was one of the things Serena could relate to the most. Maybe that was the bond that allowed her wish to be granted…?

Her train of thought was broken when she noticed Clemont shifting at the other side of the table. He adjusted his glasses—making them glint as they reflected the light for a moment—and observed Pikachu wordlessly. His wavering pupils were betraying his actual emotions, however.

‘‘Clemont,’’ Serena said to obtain his attention. She smiled knowingly when his eyes landed on hers. ‘‘You can freak out about this as much as you want, you know that, right?’’

He kept staring. ‘‘…Really?’’ he asked in a tiny, almost inaudible voice.

Serena nodded. She soon realized she might have made a mistake.

Clemont was almost completely on the table as he got extra close to Pikachu. ‘‘When did this happen? How is Pikachu’s speech like? Does he speak like Satoshi? Oh my Arceus, does his mouth move accordingly to the words he says?!’’ Pikachu looked back at him with wide eyes and pricked ears. Realizing Clemont had suddenly extracted a magnifying glass out of seemingly nowhere, he backed away and climbed back onto Serena’s shoulder.

The next thirty minutes were filled with Serena’s best attempt at an explanation (she omitted her theories about what could’ve caused this to happen; she didn’t want to say it was a bond out loud lest she gives Eureka even more fuel to mess with her love for Satoshi). The siblings would occasionally ask a question related to the situation. Serena translated everything Pikachu said, suddenly feeling as if she had learned a whole new language overnight.

‘‘Eureka, be sure to listen attentively, okay?’’ Clemont said to his sister. Eureka nodded with anticipation. They were in the middle of an impromptu experiment: Clemont wanted to see if there was a particular Pika-pattern for specific words. In this case, he asked Pikachu to repeat Satoshi’s name. ‘‘Okay, go!’’

‘‘Satoshi,’’ Pikachu said loud and clear. Clemont nodded and wrote it down on a notepad. No one knew where he got that from either. Clemont then asked him to repeat it every few seconds in differently structured sentences, every time jotting some words down and nodding in sync with his sister. Serena watched the whole exchange, a little amused. She was now on the opposite end, both of the table and the understanding spectrum. She was hearing him say Satoshi’s name in a perfectly articulated way while the siblings were probably just hearing a bunch of Pika-pikas.

‘‘Okay,’’ the inventor said with a final nod. He scanned his notes one last time before his face broke in a bright smile. ‘‘This information will help me improve my Pokémon Language Translator. If I succeed, it could be the first completely reliable source for Pokémon translation in the whole world!’’

Eureka raised her hand with her classic cheerfulness. ‘‘I’ll help you with it this time! Only if you let me choose a different name for it before you get the patent.’’

‘‘Eh?! What’s wrong with the name I chose? It’s short and describes perfectly what it is for!’’

‘‘But it’s boring! If you want your machines to succeed, they need to have flashy, catchy names!’’

Serena giggled quietly at the siblings blossoming banter. They were always like this. Pikachu smiled at her, still standing on the table. ‘‘Those two will never change,’’ he said. In the blink of an eye, his ears twitched and he looked to the side. ‘‘Satoshi!’’

Serena blinked at his sudden outburst. It was loud enough to deter the siblings’ banter as well. ‘‘Pikachu, you know you don’t need to repeat Satoshi’s name anymore, righ—’’

Pikachu shook his head and climbed on her shoulder, placing a paw on her chin. ‘‘No. I mean it this time.’’ He made her turn her head lightly to the side, causing her to gasp at the sight. ‘‘Satoshi!’’

The siblings turned in the same direction and matched her reaction. Standing in the flesh, Satoshi from Masara Town was looking at them with his warm auburn eyes. He glanced to the siblings and then back to Serena and Pikachu, a tinge of confused amusement adorning his face when he noticed their closeness.

‘‘Hey guys,’’ he said with a wink.

Pikachu didn’t need to run toward him; the girl on whose shoulder he was resting on had already made her way toward Satoshi. Serena embraced the startled boy in an affectionate hug as Pikachu jumped to one of his shoulders.

The sudden greeting from two of the beings he loved the most made him feel extra warm inside. He was about to reach for Pikachu’s head to pet him only to realize that both of his arms were already busy surrounding Serena’s waist, pulling her closer. Oh. When did that happen?

‘‘Welcome back,’’ Serena exclaimed softly. Her words were accompanied by her hot breath, which tickled his ear and made him shiver involuntarily. Now some of the warmth was reaching his cheeks. He still didn’t know exactly why he enjoyed this feeling so much, but he wasn’t about to complain.

(She smelled like flowers.)

Finally looking up, he saw Clemont and Eureka watching him with greeting smiles. The rest of the Pokémon were surrounding them as well, glad to see him safe. He realized that he was supposed to say something back to the girl in his arms.

Satoshi pulled away slightly and grinned at her, enjoying just how happy she seemed with his presence. ‘‘I take it you guys missed me?’’

Suddenly realizing what she had done, Serena’s face went bright red as her eyes flickered to her arms that were still surrounding him. ‘‘U-ummm…’’ She glanced at Pikachu and found him actually smirking at her. The traitor. Even after everything we’ve been through! ‘‘Yeah,’’ she managed to say, glaring at the sly mouse and backing away from Satoshi.

He didn’t notice the internal battle his partner and his traveling companion were having because he was distracted by a second hug. This time, a small blonde girl was looking up at him with a blinding smile. However, he did notice when Pikachu jumped to Serena’s shoulder again. His partner seemed to be saying something to Serena. Satoshi got surprised when that actually elicited a flustered reaction from the girl.

That’s weird.

Before Satoshi could ask about this sudden closeness between the two, the older sibling got his attention. ‘‘We’re glad you’re back, Satoshi,’’ he said.

‘‘Yes!’’ Eureka agreed as she backed away, now hopping in place. She seemed extra excited about something. ‘‘And you have no idea what you have missed!’’ She giggled at Satoshi when he raised his eyebrows with curiosity. From the corner of his eye, he noticed that Serena had stopped glaring at Pikachu and had turned to Eureka, looking startled.

The honey-blonde then got closer to the group. ‘‘Um, yeah, that’s right. However,’’ she said, eager to change the subject for some reason, ‘‘Satoshi should tell us what happened with him first, don’t you think so, guys?’’

If Satoshi had known any better, he would’ve thought the siblings were having a silent conversation with Serena. (In reality, they were.)

Please, let me tell him myself, Serena pleaded with them in her mind. I want it to be a surprise.

Eureka’s mind seemed to click with her idea first. She let out a low ‘ohhh’ and then nodded with determination. She looked back at Satoshi. ‘‘Serena’s right!’’ she said, surprising her still confused brother. ‘‘We were worried sick about you! You gotta tell us everything!’’

Clemont seemed to finally get the memo (or at least part of it) as he nodded alongside his sister. ‘‘Now that I think about it, the girls are right. Tell us, what happened at the police station, Satoshi?’’

Satoshi was a bit nervous now that the focus was on him. Even Pikachu seemed to agree with the rest in their sudden decision of giving him the spotlight. Why is everyone acting so weird? He raised an eyebrow and was about to speak… when his tummy beat him to it.

He grasped his belly with his hands when it rumbled, his confusion transforming into an all-too-familiar embarrassment. ‘‘I’ll tell you everything, guys. But… can I do it after I grab a bite? I haven’t eaten all day,’’ he said apologetically.

Serena smiled. That was her Satoshi. He was finally back. She knew Pikachu was thinking the same when he squeezed her shoulder affectionately. His smile was big with emotion, probably mirroring her own expression. ‘‘Hey, Serena,’’ he whispered after Eureka guided Satoshi to the table and Clemont went back to the kitchen in search of his food. ‘‘How are we going to tell him the big news?’’

Now it was her turn to smirk.

‘‘Hmm! Tasty!’’ Satoshi said as he ate his lunch. The food was disappearing from the plate at an almost alarming speed. Almost alarming because this was Satoshi, so everyone was already expecting this kind of speed after hearing he was hungry.

They all had decided to postpone Serena and Pikachu’s situation in favor of hearing about Satoshi’s. They sat just like before on the table, only with the addition of Satoshi sitting next to Serena. All of the Pokémon were still out of their Poké Balls and were waiting as well. After Satoshi finished his meal and cleaned his fingers, he began his explanation.

The first thing he said was that he had spent the night in a cell, which was enough to make Serena whimper involuntarily out of concern. Satoshi noticed this and reassured her that it was okay: Officer Jenny had made sure he had a pillow and a comforter. She nodded at his words, although she was still worried. Pikachu looked at her with a face that said something she knew all too well: I feel you.

Then Satoshi proceeded to tell them how the police had asked him a long set of questions. Most of them were yes-or-no questions, while some were a little more specific about things like his whereabouts and actions. Officer Jenny had later checked that all of his alibis were correct and, after warning him to be careful and informing him of where his friends were waiting, they finally released him.

The grin Satoshi kept during the whole explanation helped Serena feel a little more at ease. However, she couldn’t help but feel that wasn’t going to be the end of it. She wanted to remain positive, though. For Satoshi, for Pikachu, Clemont, Eureka and the rest… she had to stay strong. Seeing how relieved all of them were right now served as the comfort she needed to smile brightly back at all of them.

Satoshi was back, after all.

The first thing Satoshi did after coming back (aside from eating to his heart’s content) was going outside with his Pokémon to make up for the training time they had missed. Pikachu eagerly asked him to be the first. Serena watched them from the sidelines, sitting on a bench. Braixen had gone to have a chat with Greninja at the other side of the field, which made Serena smile knowingly. She had noticed Braixen had a soft spot for the ninja since she was a Fennekin. Greninja reciprocated in the conversation, enjoying the Fox Pokémon’s company.

Pancham was practicing some moves by himself somewhere else in the field, pretending that he wasn’t trying to imitate Pikachu’s movements every now and then. Sylveon had remained by Serena’s side, watching Pikachu intently as she wrapped her feelers with affection around Serena’s wrist.

Serena kept her eyes focused on Pikachu as he did everything Satoshi commanded. Now that she could hear it clearly, she was able to learn what Pikachu actually said before doing his moves. Sometimes he would answer with an ‘Alright!’ or ‘More, more, more!’ when the move was a prolonged Thunderbolt or Quick Attack. Sometimes he would repeat the name of the move. However, most of the time, Pikachu simply said Pikachu.

She guessed it had something to do with natural pride. Pikachu was proud of being a Pikachu, and so he screamed his own name as a battle cry to make sure everyone knew he was serious. She couldn’t know about the rest of the Pokémon, but something told her it was a similar case.

Well, she could always ask Pikachu about it later.

That thought made her remember something crucial. She looked at Satoshi, who was very focused on guiding Pikachu on the empty battlefield. ‘How are we going to tell him the big news?’ the sound of Pikachu’s voice echoed in her head.

As cheesy as it sounded, Serena wanted it to be special. Well, she at least wanted to catch him extremely off guard when the truth came out. However, no matter how much she thought about it, she still couldn’t come up with a good enough way. She knew it would be pretty funny to just run straight to him and say ‘Hey, Pikachu just said you’re ugly’ or something like that. She could just imagine Satoshi’s dumbfounded expression. But that would be easy. A little too easy, even.

Serena sensed Sylveon’s feelers squeezing her wrist. She looked down at her loyal Pokémon with a smile. Sylveon was always there to lighten up her mood, literally being able to pick up when she was feeling upset or stressed. Serena felt very warm inside every time she looked into her Pokémon’s eyes. Those bright blue eyes were habitually filled with emotion, with love for her trainer. Serena reciprocated Sylveon’s caresses by petting the top of the Intertwining Pokémon’s head and let her mind drift to everything and nothing at the same time.

Suddenly, she saw that Sylveon gave her a nod and began to walk away to join Pancham on his side of the field. Serena blinked, confused by Sylveon’s actions. She almost jumped when she heard a now—weirdly familiar—voice.

‘‘Sup,’’ a yellow mouse said, already next to her on the bench. Serena glanced from him to the field, realizing Satoshi was now training with Greninja and Noivern. She looked back at Pikachu.

‘‘Hey, you’re back,’’ she answered, not really knowing what else to say. What do you say to your crush’s Pokémon after you can somehow understand his language? Pikachu, however, seemed to already have plans forming in his mind.

‘‘Let’s take a walk through town,’’ he said with his usual carefree tone. Eh?

‘‘Now?’’

‘‘Why not?’’

‘‘Um… well…’’ Serena set her eyes back on Satoshi. She knew his training wouldn’t end anytime soon, and she did want to see the town. She normally didn’t have time to walk around a place for too long since Satoshi was the definition of active and they would usually sleep in a different location every night, often right under the stars. Satoshi wouldn’t mind if she were to take a look around, would he? Decided, she nodded to Pikachu and stood up from the bench.

‘‘Satoshi, everyone, I’m going on a quick walk,’’ she announced. Satoshi looked at her right as Pikachu climbed on her shoulder.

‘‘I’m going too,’’ the electric Pokémon said to their friends.

Satoshi was scanning her face, appearing to be looking for answers. Serena almost shivered in his intense gaze. ‘‘Pikachu wants to go with you, it seems,’’ he said, raising an eyebrow.

Serena forgot how nervous she was in favor of recognizing yet another example of Satoshi translating Pikachu’s speech perfectly. ‘‘Yeah, it looks like it,’’ she nodded and exchanged a knowing smile with Pikachu. She then put her intertwined hands behind her back and looked straight at Satoshi. ‘‘You wouldn’t mind if I borrow Pikachu for a couple minutes, would you?’’ she said, voice sweet and innocent. Pikachu almost snickered.

Satoshi was clearly at a loss for words; Serena almost felt bad. After some seconds, he resorted to nodding. ‘‘Yeah, of course he can go with you,’’ he said with a grin. Serena smiled back gratefully and began to walk to the exit of the Pokémon Center when she heard his voice again. ‘‘You know I would trust you with anything, right?’’ he was asking, still where she had left him on the field. Serena couldn’t help the blush that spread on her face. Now being the one at a loss for words, she nodded profusely, made an awkward thumbs-up and continued walking forward.

‘‘He’s being honest, you know?’’ Pikachu said. Serena turned her gaze and, instead of a smirk like she thought she would find, he had a genuine smile on his lips. Serena averted her gaze and began to play with a strand of hair.

‘‘Yeah… I do.’’

Serena and Pikachu sauntered through town. Pikachu would sometimes jump to the ground to walk by himself and then return to her shoulder, jumping back on. Serena didn’t mind; she felt weirdly important for having both Satoshi and Pikachu’s trust. Andarus was a quiet town with an equally quiet square. Trees with their leaves, colored as if it were autumn, gave the place a soft and relaxing appearance.

Pikachu was now pointing at a bench and asking her to sit down there for a bit. She agreed, more than content to simply watch her environment in tranquility. However, some minutes after they had sat down, she couldn’t stop feeling Pikachu’s gaze on her. She turned to him. ‘‘Pikachu? Is something wrong?’’

The normally energetic Pokémon smiled at her with calm, wise eyes. ‘‘You know, I’m enjoying strolling around with you a lot, but there’s a specific reason why I wanted to go for a walk in the first place,’’ he said. His gaze shifted to the fountain in the middle of the square.

‘‘What is it?’’ she asked quietly, not wanting to break the moment.

‘‘I wanted to thank you, Serena,’’ he replied, no inch of sarcasm in his voice.

She was taken aback. Pikachu? Thanking her?

‘‘Why?’’ she voiced her thoughts, not even trying to hide her confusion.

He looked back at her. ‘‘Let me tell you a story.’’ Serena stared at him, dumbfounded, before nodding. Pikachu looked apologetic. ‘‘I’m sorry if I’m suddenly talking too much; I’ve never had this opportunity to talk to a human and it’s with you in specific and I have so much to say… I’ll try to keep it brief,’’ he added with a chuckle.

‘‘Go on then, storyteller,’’ Serena encouraged him, and Pikachu began.

‘‘I’ve told you that Satoshi and I have traveled through many different regions since we started our journey,’’ he said. There was a nostalgic twinkle in his eyes. ‘‘Well, in all that time, we’ve been able to seize so many victories I wouldn’t be able to recall every single one even if I wanted to. However, we’ve also experienced defeat. So, so many times as well.’’

Serena nodded in full awareness. She hadn’t experienced defeat as much as Satoshi, but even so, she could understand how hard it might be for anyone. Even for the strongest people.

‘‘And Satoshi has always been positive about it,’’ continued Pikachu. ‘‘We would fall, but we would get back up and try again. We’re similar in that. I’ve had the opportunity to evolve multiple times; I’ve been promised it would give me more power. But I don’t want that. I don’t need it. Satoshi and I will always find a way. No fall is going to be the last.’’

‘‘I admire you both so much because of that,’’ Serena said tenderly. ‘‘I still don’t see why you would thank me, though.’’

He smirked. ‘‘I’m not finished yet.’’ Serena apologized with a smile and let him proceed. ‘‘So yeah, we have fallen a lot. However, we always get stronger after a fall. New Pokémon, new opponents, new strategies, new possibilities. Satoshi is always telling me how proud he is of how far we’ve come.’’ Pikachu paused. ‘‘In Unova it was quite different, though.’’

Serena’s eyes widened slightly. ‘‘The Unova region?’’ she asked with interest. ‘‘I have a cousin who lives there. So you guys went there too?’’

Pikachu nodded. ‘‘That was the one before Kalos. You see, we always become stronger, but something weird happened in Unova. We entered the league, but instead of progressing, it was like we were regressing. More than once I’ve felt like I failed him somehow.’’

Her gaze softened. ‘‘Pikachu… You know that’s not true. You guys did your best, I’m sure of it.’’

The Pokémon went back to his cheery smile. ‘‘Thanks, Serena. It doesn’t matter what happened, because that’s in the past. That’s what I told myself and that’s what I told Satoshi. Unova was still an experience and we met many amazing people and Pokémon there.’’

‘‘Yeah! And you’re doing amazingly here in Kalos!’’ she exclaimed and smiled widely.

‘‘That’s what I’m getting at, wait till I finish my story!’’ Serena apologized again with a chuckle. ‘‘So yeah, we got to Kalos, a brand new region with new adventures waiting for us. It’s always so refreshing to start again! And well… I think you saw when Satoshi jumped from Prism Tower to save me.’’

‘‘Did I see it,’’ Serena said. That memory perturbed her more than she wanted to admit. What if Blaziken Mask and his Mega Blaziken hadn’t been there to save Satoshi from that fall? The first time she would’ve seen her crush in years would’ve also been the last. But that didn’t happen, she quickly reminded herself every time her mind went to those dark thoughts, he’s still here. ‘‘Actually, seeing Satoshi on TV during the transmission was the push I needed to get out of my house and start my own journey. He almost gave me a heart attack when I saw him jumping, though,’’ she added.

‘‘That’s just Satoshi any Sunday afternoon,’’ Pikachu said with a shake of his head. ‘‘I can’t really say anything because I’m just like him. We would do anything to save the people we care about.’’ His voice never wavered as he talked. They had risked their lives for each other multiple times and they would do it again if it was necessary. ‘‘Anyways, soon after we got to Kalos, we met Clemont and Eureka and we were incredibly excited for our first Gym match in this new region.’’

‘‘Viola,’’ Serena observed. Pikachu nodded.

‘‘I believe you saw our first battle. We did everything we could, but we still lost. And, even if we’re not new to losing, it still hurts, you know?’’

‘‘I understand.’’ Serena remembered her first showcase, which was also her first loss. Then, her fourth showcase, the first time Sylveon, by that time still an Eevee, had performed with them. It had been a rough time for the whole team, even if it hadn’t been everyone’s first time losing. However, Satoshi, Clemont, Eureka and everyone else had been there for her Pokémon and, most importantly, for Eevee. Thanks to their unswerving support, Serena knew that loss wasn’t going to be the end.

Then, of course, the Master Class happened. Serena felt like it had come and gone as quickly as Sylveon’s Swift attack. Once again, Serena and her Pokémon knew they had done their best, and that the only way to go was forward.

Even then, a Gym match was a whole different experience. There was exactly one winner and one loser, and the public didn’t interfere in any way. Everything depended entirely on you and your Pokémon. She could remember Satoshi’s face after he lost to Viola, clear as day. She remembered his eyes as he looked down at his defeated Pokémon. Her heart had almost broken just by seeing him. And then he had run to the Pokémon Center, leaving his backpack behind.

Her attention was back on Pikachu as he continued. ‘‘After that, you joined the group temporarily and we began to train for our rematch. Our first obstacle was Vivillon’s Gust.’’

‘‘You and Talonflame had balloons attached to your backs,’’ Serena said. They smiled at the memory. Talonflame had been a little Fletchling back then.

‘‘Alexa helped us with her Noivern,’’ Pikachu said. ‘‘But we still failed to hold our ground. And Satoshi, he…’’ Pikachu paused and looked away. He seemed to be gathering enough strength to say the next words. Before he spoke up again, he locked eyes with Serena. ‘‘He seemed about to give up, Serena,’’ he said. ‘‘For the first time in so long, I saw nothing but insecurity in his eyes. And I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to give him strength, to show him I hadn’t given up yet, but what could I say to him that he didn’t already know?’’

‘‘Pikachu…’’ Serena whispered. Pikachu’s eyes were shining with emotion. When she was about to reach out to him, however, his expression shifted. It suddenly became soft as he continued to look at her.

‘‘And then,’’ he said, a slow but genuine smile spreading across his face, ‘‘you came in, Serena.’’

‘‘You gave him something to clean himself, and then you asked him something neither of us was expecting to hear. You asked him if he remembered you. Fletchling and I felt this was something personal between you guys so we walked away.’’ Pikachu shook his head as the smile grew bigger. ‘‘And, Serena, at the time I had no idea what you had said to him, but less than five minutes after you started talking, he laughed. Serena, he laughed the hardest I had heard him laugh in I don’t know how long.’’

Serena was still frozen in place, listening to Pikachu’s speech. She remembered everything that had happened that day, of course. It had marked an irreversible change in her life. But now, hearing it from someone that knew Satoshi even better than her, she felt like the memory was finally complete. She was looking at it from a different perspective; the colors were becoming clearer and more real.

‘‘Now I know you reminded him of a phrase he told you when you guys first met,’’ Pikachu said. ‘‘Don’t give up till the end, hm?’’

Serena nodded eagerly. ‘‘I… reminded him?’’ she asked.

‘‘Yes. He had forgotten all about it by the time we got to Kalos. It resurfaced after our loss in the gym. But you came like a breath of fresh air and did what I wasn’t able to do. For that,’’ he said, placing a paw on her arm and smiling brightly at her, ‘‘I thank you, Serena.’’

She was grinning like a fool and she was feeling so many things it became hard to think of an answer. Had Pikachu always been this pure? She wanted to hug him. Screw that, she was going to hug him.

Serena embraced the yellow mouse, who promptly returned her hold with a squeeze and a happy ‘Pika!’

‘‘I should thank you, Pikachu,’’ she said after some seconds. ‘‘You’ve been taking care of Satoshi for so long.’’ They backed away and beamed at each other. ‘‘What would he do without you?’’

‘‘I ask myself the same thing every day,’’ Pikachu answered with a laugh. ‘‘Oh, hey! Now that I let all of that out, I feel like moving. Let’s go to that bridge!’’

Pikachu ran to the next destination without waiting for an answer. Serena could just laugh and shake her head—he really was just like Satoshi—before following him.

They arrived at a stone arch bridge that served as a way to go from the square to the other side of town. It stood over a beautiful, crystalline lake, wherein different Water-type Pokémon swam and played with each other. Some leaves would detach from the trees from time to time and slowly fall on the surface of the water, moving along with the gentle current.

Serena watched her reflection on the water as Pikachu sauntered on top of the bridge. He joined her to watch the lake water some seconds later and began to make funny faces to the Pokémon inside the lake, eliciting giggles from Serena every time they would answer with a splash.

This was one of those moments that were hard to explain with words. Everything was relatively quiet, only the sounds of Pikachu’s laughter, water splashing and the foliage moving with the wind could be heard. And it was as if those sounds were meant to coexist, as if they gave color and shape to a perfect painting that she would see hanging on a wall in a small family restaurant; a painting that would remind her of home.

She remained silent as she watched Satoshi’s best friend jumping around. He seemed free, devoid of any constraint, untroubled and light as a feather. Her face softened. Pikachu had opened up to her and had given his own perspective, thanking her. She knew Pikachu wasn’t one to lie or say random things for no apparent reason, because he was just like Satoshi. That conversation had been significant, and Pikachu had said all of those things as if he’d been wanting to shout them to the world for a long time. Did he actually feel so strongly about her and the impact she had on Satoshi?

He sure seemed to know everything about what had happened that day, which meant—

Suddenly, she realized something about their conversation.

‘‘Hey, Pikachu,’’ she said. Pikachu hummed in acknowledgment as he dodged another splash of water coming his way. ‘‘You know everything I said to Satoshi that day because he told you about it, right?’’

Pikachu stopped in his tracks and smiled at her. ‘‘Of course. Unless I was a Psychic type to be able to read minds, I wouldn’t know if he hadn’t told me.’’

‘‘Oh,’’ she said. ‘‘I see.’’ She fidgeted with her hands and continued to stare into the water, observing her nervous reflection. She could also see Pikachu’s as he continued to look at her, sensing she wanted to say something else.

‘‘You’re going to ask something about him, aren’t you?’’ he inquired.

‘‘Okay, seriously, since when are you so intuitive?’’

They laughed together; another sound that added perfectly to the painting of home she had created in her mind. She realized she shouldn’t feel uncomfortable next to Pikachu. She knew he wouldn’t make fun of her, or at least he wouldn’t mock her to hurt her feelings on purpose.

‘‘This might sound silly,’’ she began, ‘‘but, um… Does Satoshi… talk about me? With you? I mean, of course, he probably talks about all of his friends, but… You know what, never mind tha—’’

‘‘Yes,’’ Pikachu said before Serena could retract her words. ‘‘He does talk about you.’’

‘‘Oh—’’

‘‘A lot.’’

Serena froze. Had she heard that correctly? She inspected Pikachu and didn’t find anything that indicated he was just joking. He seemed rather amused about it, judging by the way the tips of his lips curled into a grin.

‘‘He… does?’’

‘‘Mhmm,’’ he hummed positively. ‘‘We usually have a small conversation every night. We tell each other our favorite parts of that day and stuff. Just the two of us, not even Clemont is present. And believe me, he’s gotta mention at least one thing about you every night or else he won’t be able to sleep properly. Well, at least that’s how it looks like.’’

The heat was already setting on her cheeks no matter how much she wanted to stop it. ‘‘W-what does he say?’’

‘‘It depends. Sometimes he says he likes it when you get excited about something, or says you’re getting even better at making macaroons. Sometimes he comments about how close you are to your Pokémon. Most importantly, he’s immensely proud of you for never giving up and following your dreams. He hasn’t told me that last part, but the look in his eyes makes it so obvious he doesn’t need to say it.’’

My face probably can’t get any redder, Serena thought. ‘‘W-well, I didn’t expect all of that—’’

‘‘What he did tell me the other day,’’ Pikachu continued with a smirk, ‘‘was that you smelled like flowers.’’

Contrary to her thoughts, her face did get even redder. ‘‘When was this other day?’’

Pikachu’s smirk widened. ‘‘It was actually today.’’

‘‘Eh?!’’

‘‘I guess it was after you hugged him when he came back. He literally murmured it when we were training in the field. He probably didn’t even realize he said that. You really didn’t see that? He had like the goofiest smile on his face — oh, speaking of Giratina, here he comes. Hey, Satoshi.’’

‘‘What—’’

‘‘Hey, Serena, Pikachu!’’

‘‘Satoshi!’’ Serena turned to see her raven-haired crush walking toward them with a wave of his hand. She cleared her throat, willing her voice to go to a lower, more reasonable pitch. There was nothing she could do for her red face, she lamented internally. ‘‘Hey! What’s up?’’

‘‘Nothing much,’’ he answered. ‘‘I finished training a while ago and decided to come to town and find you guys. Speaking of, did you two enjoy your walk?’’ He looked between the two of them with a questioning gaze. They knew he wasn’t only asking about their walk, though.

Pikachu climbed on her shoulder and Serena bit her lip lightly. She still didn’t know how to explain their current situation. And, after remembering what Pikachu had just told her about Satoshi, she knew she wouldn’t have the composure to give him a steady answer, anyway.

Thankfully, Pikachu decided to take the lead for her. ‘‘Satoshi! The walk went fine. This town is really pretty,’’ he said.

Satoshi smiled and looked around. ‘‘I can see that! It’s like we’re inside a big pile of leaves. Don’t you think so, Serena?’’

Serena nodded, still not trusting her voice. ‘‘Mhmm!’’

Pikachu chuckled at her, which caught Satoshi’s attention. ‘‘Hey, by the way,’’ he began. Serena braced herself, knowing he was finally going to ask. ‘‘What’s up with you two?’’

‘‘What’s up as in what?’’ Serena asked back with the opposite of eloquence.

‘‘Pikachu hasn’t left your side all day,’’ Satoshi said. He then crossed his arms with a smile and raised an eyebrow. ‘‘Should I start to feel jealous?’’

Everything was going too fast for Serena’s liking. Did he mean jealous of her for having Pikachu’s attention or the other way around? What difference did it make? Why was life so complicated?

‘‘I’ll distract him while you get a hold of yourself,’’ Pikachu whispered to her, amused, before he jumped from her shoulder to Satoshi’s. ‘‘Yes, you absolutely should,’’ he told his trainer. Satoshi’s eyebrows rose and Pikachu seemed to brighten up. ‘‘Oh sweet Raichu, this is hilarious. I can talk to you and make him think I’m talking to him,’’ he said.

‘‘Um, Pikachu, slow down,’’ Satoshi said. ‘‘I can’t understand if you talk so fast.’’

Pikachu’s smile widened. ‘‘Oh, this is gold!’’

Serena managed to recover from her shock and hid a giggle. Pikachu seemed to be having the time of his life, looking at Satoshi but clearly talking to her.

‘‘Oh, and Clemont was right with his experiment,’’ he said casually as Satoshi still looked at him with confusion.

‘‘Hm?’’ Serena hummed, pretending she was just as confused as Satoshi.

‘‘I do have speech patterns that say if I’m talking about some things in specific. For example, he knows I’m talking about Clemont right now.’’

‘‘Clemont is fine, if that’s what you’re asking?’’ Satoshi said to Pikachu, disoriented in the conversation. It was getting hard for Serena to control her blossoming laughter.

‘‘Oh, but one name he never mistakes is yours,’’ Pikachu continued. That made Serena curious. My name? ‘‘To him, it sounds exactly like this: Pika–cha.’’

Satoshi seemed to take notice right after Pikachu had said the word. He glanced from Pikachu to Serena, probably trying to understand what Pikachu was saying. ‘‘Could you repeat that?’’ he asked.

Serena walked closer to them, feigning innocence. ‘‘What is Pikachu saying, Satoshi?’’

‘‘That’s what I’m trying to figure out,’’ he said. ‘‘I don’t know what’s up with him. He’s talking faster than usual.’’

Pikachu shrugged. For the next thing he said, however, he articulated every word perfectly. ‘‘I was just talking to Serena about that time you told me she was beautiful.’’

‘‘What?’’ said both Serena and Satoshi in unison. He had, no doubts about it, understood what Pikachu had said this time.

Serena stared with surprise as Satoshi’s cheeks turned a light shade of pink. He smiled nervously at Serena before glaring at Pikachu. ‘‘Why are you bringing that up?’’ he whispered to his partner.

Pikachu smirked. Satoshi now looked horrified with apparent apprehension. ‘‘Don’t worry,’’ he told Satoshi, ‘‘it’s not like she can understand me.’’

‘‘I know, but—’’

‘‘So I can also tell her about that one night you murmured her name in your sleep. You also murmured you like how she looks with short hair a lot, remember?’’

‘‘I said that?!’’

‘‘He said that?!’’ Serena couldn’t help but exclaim.

Satoshi stopped cold. He turned from a still smirking Pikachu to Serena. ‘‘Wait a second.’’

Serena’s eyes widened and her eyes flickered to Pikachu, silently asking for his support. Pikachu simply shrugged as in ‘I can’t help you with this one.’

When Serena turned back at Satoshi, she immediately noticed how close his face had gotten. She did her best not to shiver as his deep gaze examined every feature of her face. He frowned, and like he had done some times before, glanced from her to Pikachu and back. However, this time he seemed to get what was going on.

‘‘Serena,’’ he said.

Serena showed him her best I’m-absolutely-not-guilty smile. ‘‘Yes?’’

‘‘Did you just understand exactly what Pikachu said?’’

His inquisitive eye contact had her frozen in place. He was practically towering over her by then, having grown some inches since they started their journey in Kalos.

‘‘Well, you see—’’

‘‘I remember one time Satoshi told me he felt weird when he saw you in your Fennekin outfit. If you want my opinion, he felt weird in a ‘gotta catch Serena’ kind of way,’’ Pikachu casually said from Satoshi’s shoulder.

‘‘PIKACHU!’’ Satoshi shouted with alarm.

‘‘W-WHAT?’’ Serena all but squeaked at the same time.

That only managed to give Satoshi even more confirmation, and Serena would’ve glared at Pikachu if Satoshi hadn’t turned back at her with the speed of a Ninjask.

‘‘You are getting what he’s saying!’’

She gave him a wavering smile. ‘‘Y-you got me,’’ she stuttered before looking away, feeling alarmingly hot in the face.

‘‘How…?’’ Satoshi asked in a low tone, leaning forward with curiosity. ‘‘No one had been able to do that before…’’ Serena made some incoherent noises, still looking everywhere but him. ‘‘Serena?’’

‘‘Hey, buddy,’’ Pikachu said. ‘‘Don’t you think you’re getting a little too close to Serena?’’

Satoshi’s face almost rivaled Serena’s shade of red after he realized their noses were basically touching. ‘‘Sorry, Serena!’’ he exclaimed as he backed away a few steps, scratching the back of his neck nervously.

Serena was finally able to let out the breath she’d been holding. She smiled at him, feeling light, and shook her head. ‘‘I-it’s okay. You were surprised and wanted answers, that’s all.’’

That reminded Satoshi of his recent discovery. Deciding to give Serena some space, he shot Pikachu a questioning look. ‘‘All right, buddy, what’s going on?’’

‘‘Don’t you want your Pika-cha to explain it to you instead?’’ Pikachu answered, emphasizing Serena’s name on purpose. He was enjoying this more than anyone else, by the look of things.

Satoshi frowned at him, but to Serena, it looked more like a cute pout. ‘‘Pikachu, I’m serious.’’ Satoshi was looking at Pikachu like a child would look at his mom during a reunion with friends. ‘Stop embarrassing me in front of my friends, mom.’

Serena giggled at the thought.

‘‘I’ll tell you everything, Satoshi,’’ she said, deciding to spare him Pikachu’s constant mockery. She also felt like she owed him something after learning all of those things he had supposedly said about her.

Satoshi looked at her with such gratefulness she had to giggle again. ‘‘Thank you, Serena.’’

They were back at the bench in front of the fountain Serena and Pikachu had sat on earlier, Satoshi as the new addition to the group. Satoshi and Serena were sitting on the bench and Pikachu was lying on the armrest, letting Serena explain all the details to his trainer.

‘‘So, um, yeah, that’s pretty much it,’’ she finished. ‘‘This is like the third time I explain this, even if there isn’t much to say to begin with—’’

‘‘This is amazing!’’ Satoshi exclaimed. ‘‘You’re even more fluent in Pikachunese than me!’’ Satoshi’s childish enthusiasm made Serena laugh. ‘‘I’ve always wondered how my name would sound in Pikachu’s voice.’’

‘‘Um, it would sound like Satoshi?’’ Pikachu said with a lazy smile.

‘‘You know what I mean,’’ Satoshi deadpanned. He obviously already knew the speech pattern that indicated Pikachu was saying his name. Pikachu just shrugged halfheartedly at his trainer.

Serena was beginning to genuinely think she might be in heaven. She had never felt so close to Satoshi as she did now. She could effortlessly participate in their conversations, and anything they talked about could become an inside joke!

‘‘You said it was because of a wish, right, Serena?’’ Satoshi asked, pulling her mind back to Earth.

‘‘Oh, yeah,’’ she replied. ‘‘That’s the word I’ve been using, at least. I think it fits.’’

Satoshi hummed pensively with a hand on his chin. He seemed to be thinking hard about it, which was indeed a rare sight of Satoshi since he only looked like that while thinking about battles. ‘‘It might be Jirachi’s doing, then!’’

‘‘Jirachi?’’ Serena asked.

‘‘I’ve been thinking about that too,’’ Pikachu said. ‘‘Jirachi is a Pokémon that can grant wishes, but it only wakes up for a few days every thousand years.’’

Satoshi nodded. ‘‘I’m pretty sure it has not been a thousand years since we last saw it, though.’’

‘‘There’s probably more than one Jirachi,’’ Pikachu argued. ‘‘I’ve seen at least three Jirachi in my life by now.’’

‘‘You’re right. I bet Professor Oak would love to know about this!’’

Serena smiled at the two best friends. She shouldn’t be surprised by how knowledgeable they were; they had been traveling through many regions for a long time now. ‘‘You guys should become Pokémon Professors one of these days,’’ she joked.

Satoshi laughed at that. ‘‘I don’t think I’m suitable to be a professor. I like to know about Pokémon, but scientific investigation is confusing.’’

‘‘Yeah,’’ Pikachu said, snickering. ‘‘Unless you want a professor who keeps challenging every single new trainer to a battle, I don’t think Satoshi’s your best bet.’’

Satoshi rolled his eyes and Serena giggled. ‘‘I didn’t know Pikachu was so sassy,’’ she said.

‘‘He keeps bullying me, I swear,’’ Satoshi said with amusement. After some seconds, however, the amusement left his face and was replaced with an expression Serena hadn’t seen before. He looked nervous and seemed to be remembering something. She noticed he was looking at Pikachu. When she turned at the yellow Pokémon, she saw him smiling at Satoshi with a knowing look.

They seemed to be having a mental conversation. Well, she thought, so much for being able to communicate with them flawlessly. I can’t match psychic bonds like these. What are they even talking about?

She turned back at Satoshi when she heard him clear his throat rather dismissively. She wasn’t sure if it was just the reflection of the tree leaves above them, but she could swear there was a tinge of pink on his cheeks.

‘‘So, Serena,’’ he said. ‘‘Do Clemont and Eureka know about this?’’

‘‘They do,’’ she replied. ‘‘You should’ve seen Clemont’s reaction, though! He practically climbed on the table trying to examine Pikachu.’’

Satoshi snorted as an image of Clemont holding an ice cream stick in front of Pikachu’s mouth and asking him to say ‘ahhh’ appeared in his mind. ‘‘What about Eureka?’’

‘‘She was acting almost like that one time she ate two cotton candies in a row,’’ Serena said. The three of them shivered at the thought.

‘‘That was scary,’’ Pikachu said, recalling the memory.

‘‘It was,’’ Satoshi agreed. ‘‘So, how has your experience been until now, Serena?’’

Pikachu began to walk closer until he casually sat between the two humans.

‘‘Bizarre may be the best word for it,’’ Serena said. ‘‘But mostly, it’s been amazing!’’

‘‘I bet it is! You’ll be able to—’’

‘‘Hey, Satoshi, that shop with the green sign over there sells ketchup. Can you get me some?’’ Pikachu suddenly asked, eyes sparkling just by the prospect of eating his favorite condiment.

Satoshi gave him a look. ‘‘I’ll do it after I finish talking to Serena. Be patient,’’ he said. Pikachu pouted. ‘‘As I was saying, you’ll be able to communicate perfectly with Braixen, Pancham and Sylveon soon.’’

‘‘You think so?’’ Serena asked, hopefully.

‘‘Of course! You already have a strong bond with them. Being able to understand a Pokémon’s feelings goes far beyond words—’’

‘‘Hey Serena,’’ Pikachu chimed in, interrupting Satoshi again, ‘‘you know, Satoshi said something interesting about you the day you wore his clothes—’’

‘‘One bottle of ketchup, was it?’’ Satoshi interrupted this time, pointedly glaring at Pikachu. The yellow mouse nodded at him effusively, looking as innocent as ever. ‘‘Wait here, Serena, I’ll be back soon.’’

Serena could only stare as Satoshi angrily power-walked over to the store with the green sign, only entering after sending Pikachu a final scowl. She blinked at the scene.

‘‘What was that?’’ she asked, turning to look at Pikachu. As for the Pokémon, he looked incredibly proud of himself, wearing a smug grin. He looked up at her.

‘‘I’m just now starting to realize the new power I possess,’’ he simply said, not really answering anything about Serena’s question.

When you think you know what’s going on for once, Serena thought as she shook her head.

After Satoshi bought Pikachu his bottle of beloved ketchup, he suggested they should head back to the Pokémon Center (presumably before Pikachu could have another opportunity to blackmail him). The sun was already setting, painting the sky with ravishing oranges and pinks. The walk back was full of laughter as the three of them joked around. Satoshi and Pikachu recounted the funniest things they had experienced during their travels while Serena told them the weirdest excuses she had ever used to avoid Rhyhorn Racing practice back when she lived with her mom.

At one point, for a reason Serena couldn’t remember (not like a reason was necessary at all), Satoshi surrounded her neck with one arm to give her a side hug during the retelling of one of his anecdotes. Their proximity made her feel lighter, and she felt like laughing even more. Pikachu complained every time they would move too much because ‘‘You guys are making me spill my ketchup!’’ None of them paid him any mind, too immersed in their own world.

When they arrived at the Pokémon Center, everyone greeted them warmly. The bubbly, happy aura of the newcomers quickly invaded their friends and Pokémon.

After Eureka commented that they were the only ones staying at the Pokémon Center that night, Satoshi, Serena and Pikachu shared glances among themselves before smirking.

When Clemont said he was going to cook their dinner, Satoshi and Serena both grabbed him by the shoulders and guided him to the center of the common area.

‘‘Today we’ll dine stories,’’ Serena told him with a grin.

‘‘That doesn’t make any sense,’’ Clemont answered with a raised eyebrow, although he clearly wasn’t against it.

‘‘Shh,’’ Satoshi shushed him, ‘‘just do as the lady says and sit down.’’

Everyone, humans and Pokémon, sat down in a circle. The last one to sit was Greninja, who was asked by Satoshi to turn off the room lights, and subsequently jumped to his place in the circle. Serena searched for a video of a bonfire in her guidebook and placed it in the center. They were indoor camping, as one would say. The Nurse Joy in charge of the Pokémon Center gave them a last amused look before exiting the room to go to sleep, which left the gang officially alone for the night.

Satoshi was sitting next to Serena, which immediately made everything ten times better for her (and for him, which is something Pikachu would absolutely use as blackmail in the future). The rest of the night was full of laughter just like Serena’s walk with Satoshi and Pikachu earlier. However, this time, it had advanced into howling. She had to grab at her stomach when it started to hurt from laughter, courtesy of Eureka’s story about the time Clemont accidentally set his room on fire when he was trying to fix one of his inventions.

‘‘The fire was everywhere, I was like ‘Clemont, let’s get out of here’ and he was like ‘Wait! I’m almost done!’ I just couldn’t believe him so I shouted ‘You’re almost done what?! Attracting the whole fire department here?! Because you do that every other week!’’’

‘‘Eu-Eureka,’’ Serena panted, ‘‘I— Clemont please tell me she’s just exaggerating!’’

Clemont was as red as the fake bonfire. ‘‘She… she did say that.’’

‘‘Please tell me you at least installed sprinklers after that,’’ Satoshi said. Serena was vibrating with laughter as she pushed his shoulder playfully.

‘‘Satoshi!’’ she exclaimed. Satoshi was grinning just as wildly as her. ‘‘My belly hurts so much, I’m not going to make it past tonight!’’

‘‘Then stop laughing!’’

‘‘How? Every time I look at you I start laughing again!’’

Pikachu looked at both of them with pride. Serena had never laughed so loudly in Satoshi’s presence, and she seemed so comfortable she could literally fall on him and they would act like it was the most normal thing in the world. Needless to say, he wholeheartedly approved of Serena as Satoshi’s partner, and he wasn’t only thinking about a traveling kind of partner.

A couple of hours went by, and Eureka was the first one to get caught by exhaustion (not counting Dedenne since it was born to take naps every second hour). Clemont said goodbye to everyone else as he held his little sister by the hand and guided her to their room, his Pokémon trailing behind him.

Serena yawned on Satoshi’s shoulder. ‘‘I think that’s my cue to go to sleep too,’’ she drawled, not really wanting to move. She was far too comfy. Satoshi chuckled and she felt the way his body shook as he did it.

‘‘I need you to actually wake up before noon tomorrow, Serena,’’ he reminded her with a smile.

‘‘Ugh, all right,’’ she said as she mustered up all the willpower she could to stand up. She yawned again, halfheartedly moving a stray strand of hair off her face. ‘‘Braixen, Pancham, Sylveon, let’s go.’’ Her Pokémon followed her, walking slowly with sleepiness. ‘‘Goodnight, Satoshi,’’ she said when she was about to exit the common area to go to her room upstairs.

‘‘Goodnight, Serena,’’ he replied, standing up too with Pikachu on his shoulder.

Serena sent him a last smile and began to go up the stairs.

Satoshi’s eyes lingered in the place she had just been in for some seconds before he felt a soft squeeze on his shoulder. That was Pikachu reminding him he was also supposed to go to sleep. After saying goodnight to his other Pokémon and returning them to their Poké Balls, Satoshi stretched and looked outside the Pokémon Center window. He gazed at the full moon with an easy smile on his face.

‘‘The moon never stops being beautiful, no matter how much you look at it,’’ Pikachu said. Automatically translating most of Pikachu’s language into his own had become second nature to Satoshi a long time ago. The trainer silently nodded at Pikachu’s statement. ‘‘You’re probably thinking it’s not as beautiful as her, aren’t you?’’

Satoshi’s smile vanished and he was a lot more awake than before, judging by the conscious way he was glaring at Pikachu now. ‘‘You traitor,’’ he said. ‘‘How much did you tell her?’’

Pikachu shrugged with a smile. ‘‘Don’t worry. I didn’t tell Pika-cha as many things as you think.’’

‘‘You literally threatened me with doing so earlier,’’ Satoshi deadpanned.

‘‘It was just too good of an opportunity to waste it, I’m sorry!’’ Pikachu said, not looking even a little bit sorry. His expression then grew earnest. ‘‘I’m not telling her lies, anyway. I haven’t heard you speak so highly and so much about a person until she joined the group.’’

‘‘I know,’’ Satoshi said. He gave a small laugh. ‘‘I guess I am a big fan of hers, huh?’’

‘‘And that’s all you’d like to be? Just her fan?’’ Pikachu asked. He wasn’t teasing Satoshi this time. His tone was encouraging, supportive. He knew how important the honey-blonde was to Satoshi and how different everything felt with her.

Satoshi sighed. ‘‘I don’t know, Pikachu. I’m, like, the last person you should ask when it comes to… this,’’ he said, doing random gestures with his hands in the air to prove his point. He knew what love was. He just didn’t know what to do about it. And also… ‘‘What I do know is that I want to repeat nights like these,’’ he said.

Pikachu nodded, thinking about the unrestrained bliss and the blessing of just laughing your heart out with friends, not thinking about tomorrow, just living the moment. ‘‘This is what I love the most about our travels, I think.’’

‘‘That and the battles?’’

‘‘That and the battles.’’

‘‘I thought so.’’ Both of them laughed quietly at their shared passion for battling. After some seconds, Satoshi shook his head with a smile and turned away from the window. ‘‘We should go to sleep too, buddy. A long day awaits us tomorrow.’’

‘‘You said it,’’ his best friend answered.

Satoshi made his way upstairs as silently as he could, Pikachu remaining on his shoulder as always.

‘‘Which one’s my room?’’ he asked Pikachu quietly. The Pokémon pointed at one of the doors.

‘‘That’s where I slept last night,’’ he said. Satoshi nodded and opened the door. It was only then that Pikachu realized something. Are Clemont and Eureka still sharing a room? Then that means—

Satoshi froze when he was greeted by Serena’s sleeping form inside the bedsheets, breathing softly under the moonlight.

‘‘Pikachu,’’ he whispered, ‘‘if this is my room, why is Serena sleeping here?’’

‘‘Clemont must’ve forgotten to guide Eureka to this room and… I guess I didn’t take into account the fact that you’re a human and you can’t sleep on the windowsill… Pika-Surprise…?’’

Satoshi gulped and looked away. ‘‘All right, time to sleep on the floor—’’

‘‘Satoshi?’’

The raven-haired stopped cold at the mention of his name by a feminine voice he knew too well. Pikachu decided to make a tactical withdrawal and jumped off Satoshi’s shoulder to go to the windowsill himself, sitting on the pillow that was still there from the night before. Satoshi, in the meantime, was still staring at a sleepy Serena as she slowly opened her eyes to look at him.

‘‘Satoshi, is that you?’’

‘‘Uh, yeah,’’ he answered, suddenly realizing he had just forgotten the entirety of the Japanese lexicon.

Serena softly scratched her eye as she sat up on the mattress. ‘‘What are you doing here? Your room is the next one in the hall.’’

‘‘That’s funny, actually,’’ he said, a hand behind his neck. ‘‘Because it turns out that’s Eureka’s room now. And, judging by how these rooms have only one small bed, I wouldn’t have been able to sleep in the same room as Clemont’s anyway so I’ll just go and sleep on a couch downstairs,’’ he finished his rambling with a nod and a toothy smile.

Satoshi was already starting for the door when Serena finished analyzing what he had just told her. Her sleepiness wore off a little after she realized what was happening and she held out a hand. ‘‘Satoshi, wait,’’ she said, stopping him.

He looked back at her. ‘‘…Yeah?’’

‘‘You can sleep here, it’s okay with me,’’ she said.

Satoshi hoped the moonlight wasn’t bright enough to show how pink his cheeks were getting. ‘‘Serena, you don’t need to do that. That bed is small, you’d be uncomfortable—’’

‘‘Hey,’’ she interrupted with a smile, ‘‘I’m not letting you sleep on a couch if there’s a bed here.’’

‘‘Uh…’’

Pikachu watched as Serena smiled openly at Satoshi and the boy just stayed frozen in place. After five whole seconds had passed, the yellow mouse rolled his eyes. ‘‘Satoshi,’’ he quietly called out to him, ‘‘just go with it and sleep, buddy.’’

Satoshi just spared him a glance before his eyes went back to Serena. ‘‘Are you sure?’’ he asked. ‘‘I can be pretty difficult when I sleep.’’

‘‘He takes the whole bed for himself, that’s what he means,’’ Pikachu said as an explanation to Serena.

She giggled. ‘‘It’s okay. I’ll have the side facing the wall anyway, so if he decides to start a sleeping war he’ll be the one falling to the floor in the end, won’t he?’’

‘‘Serena, where have you been my whole life?’’ Pikachu said, smiling. Satoshi thought exactly the same as he slowly got closer to the bed and took off his jacket, putting it aside.

‘‘Well, if you’re sure it’s okay with you,’’ he said. ‘‘This bed is still a little small…’’

‘‘Just get in here.’’

Serena didn’t know if she was acting like this thanks to the sleepiness she was still feeling or because she finally decided to get what she wanted; she just knew that smiling at a nervous Satoshi as he got into the bedsheets was going to be one of the favorite memories of her life.

She closed her eyes and placed her head back on the pillow. ‘‘Goodnight, Satoshi,’’ she repeated what she had said earlier, still not able to stop smiling.

Satoshi gazed at her from the other half of the cushion, admiring the way her silky hair cascaded over the pillow and glowed with the moonlight.

‘‘Goodnight, Serena,’’ he said softly. Yeah, he was completely sure. He knew what love was. And he was going to figure out what to do about it, preferably sooner than later.

‘‘Goodnight to you guys too,’’ Pikachu suddenly said with amusement from the windowsill, breaking the moment. Satoshi answered with a halfhearted ‘yeah goodnight whatever’ while Serena giggled. The yellow mouse watched the teens with an accomplished smile. He turned around in circles over his pillow, finding the most comfortable spot, and settled down to sleep.

My boy is growing up, he thought to himself. And it only took a honey-blonde with blue eyes he had already met some years ago to make it happen.

Chapter Text

A shaft of morning sunlight fell upon the figures of two teenagers, embracing them with its warmth. Pikachu had woken up already, but he wasn’t on the windowsill anymore. Instead, he was at the foot of the bed, waiting patiently for the moment that was about to come.

Feeling how the annoying sun had begun to hit his eyelids, Satoshi grumbled lowly and buried his nose deeper into the soft pillow that had been cushioning his face the whole morning. He inhaled softly and an unconscious smile raised the corners of his lips. Smells like flowers.

He stayed there, already awake but not ready to start the day, breathing into what was becoming the sweetest scent he had ever smelled. Why was it so irresistibly sweet, though? Since when did his pillow smell like this? And… why was it so familiar?

Satoshi moved his face a little and stopped when he felt like something was tickling him. This isn’t a pillow, he thought. Moving a little more, he recognized it was smooth and divided into what felt to be strands.

Is this… hair?

Even half-asleep, he was sure his own hair wasn’t long enough for him to lose himself in it. He moved his face away from its previous cushion and pressed his cheek against a different surface. This one didn’t feel like hair, he was sure of it. It was smooth too, and it originated such tender warmth that it made him want to stay there forever. It still wasn’t a pillow, however.

What the…?

Intrigued, Satoshi finally decided to open his eyes. Once his vision had cleared out enough, the first thing he saw was his own arm surrounding something pink. ‘‘Hmm?’’ he hummed quietly. His conscious senses were coming back, and he realized he was hugging a pink sweater.

His eyes shot open fast and every single bit of sleepiness that was remaining finally evaporated into thin air. Everything became clear to him in the span of three seconds: his face had been buried into Serena’s hair, his cheek was currently resting on her shoulder and his left arm was cuddling her waist and pulling her closer—

He stiffened when Serena suddenly stirred. She took a deep breath and hummed when she let it out, beginning to wake up. It was then that he noticed she was also hugging his waist, her fingers brushing his bare skin under his slightly rolled up shirt.

Satoshi felt like every second that went by was an hour as he stupidly waited for her to come to the same realization as him. When she stiffened and her eyelashes tickled his neck as she widened her eyes, he knew she was fully awake too.

Almost like in sync, both of them slowly backed away to look at each other in the eye, still not letting go of each other entirely. They stared, sky-blue eyes meeting auburn, in silence.

A silence that was easily broken by a certain yellow Pokémon at the foot of the bed.

‘‘Good morning, guys,’’ Pikachu said casually.

‘‘AHHHHH!’’ they both screamed and tried to untangle themselves from each other at the same time. Serena’s back flattened against the wall as she backed away the best she could, face as red as Braixen’s Flamethrower. She gasped when she heard Satoshi falling on the floor with a thump.

‘‘Satoshi!’’ she exclaimed with mortification and went over to the edge of the bed to check on him. ‘‘Are you okay?!’’

Satoshi, who was lying face-first on the floor, raised a thumbs-up to reassure her. ‘‘I’m fine,’’ he said, his voice muffled. ‘‘Nothing broken, at least.’’

He sat up on the floor and Serena released a breath of relief when she indeed didn’t see anything was broken in his face. They locked eyes again.

‘‘I’m so sorry—’’ they said at the same time. They stayed silent, looking at each other for exactly five seconds, before they burst out laughing.

Pikachu had already been laughing, pretty much since they had screamed, so their room was now filled with two teenagers and a Pikachu holding their stomachs and wiping amused tears off their eyes.

‘‘Oh, Golden Magikarp,’’ Serena said between laughs, ‘‘I’m seriously not going to make it if I continue like this. It’s the second morning in a row I wake up screaming.’’

‘‘It’s always a good exercise,’’ Satoshi said.

The door to the room was suddenly opened by Clemont, his little sister standing right beside him. ‘‘We heard a noise, are you guys oka… Oh.’’

Clemont sighed in relief when he confirmed his friends were looking more than okay. He decided not to ask why Satoshi was on the floor. However, it did make him curious. He placed a hand on his chin as he thought about it in silence.

Eureka was already petting Pikachu as a good morning greeting.

‘‘Eureka wants to know the joke!’’ she said, noticing how they were all looking amused. ‘‘Tell me! Tell me!’’

Satoshi and Serena shared a look and averted their gazes at the same time, looking bashful. Pikachu had a radiant smile on his face, pleased with what he had accomplished. Eureka pouted when no one answered.

‘‘You guys! I really wanna know the joke!’’

‘‘Satoshi,’’ Clemont said suddenly, getting everyone’s attention. He seemed to have come to a realization. ‘‘Where did you sleep last night?’’ The red color Serena was getting dangerously accustomed to was already coming back to her cheeks. ‘‘Since I shared my room with Eureka… Did you sleep here with Serena? This bed looks quite small for both of you, so…’’

Even Satoshi looked terrified of Eureka’s big smirk. ‘‘Did you guys cuddle—’’

‘‘So anyway,’’ Satoshi said, standing up faster than he had ever done and starting to stretch. ‘‘Good morning, Clemont, Eureka! Today’s a new day, isn’t it? Let’s go get some breakfast!’’

Satoshi power-walked out of the room, leaving a confused Clemont and a smug Eureka behind. Serena released an inaudible breath, seriously considering if she should just go back to sleep. Eureka wasn’t going to let her live this down.

Meanwhile, Pikachu had perked up as soon as Satoshi had said food, and was already out of the door to follow his trainer downstairs.

‘‘So, Serena,’’ Eureka began, and Serena braced herself. ‘‘Satoshi and you were here all nigh—’’

‘‘Clemont,’’ Satoshi’s voice came from the kitchen downstairs, ‘‘if you don’t come here now I’ll start cooking breakfast myself.’’

Everyone flinched at his last words.

‘‘Oh Tesla,’’ Clemont exclaimed, ‘‘I better go before he starts a fire trying to cook. Again.’’

‘‘I’m going too!’’ Serena said and began to pick up her usual clothes for the day.

‘‘Sometimes I think I’m the only one who hasn’t set something on fire around here,’’ Eureka muttered to herself, following her older brother downstairs.

‘‘It’s part of growing up,’’ she heard Serena say from her room. Eureka giggled despite herself.

Breakfast came and went without any life-threatening situation, to everyone’s relief. Soon after everyone was done eating and preparing themselves to leave the Pokémon Center, Serena announced she was going back to the town to get a new hairbrush for her Pokémon.

‘‘I saw a cute one while I was walking around yesterday, and I just realized I really need a new one,’’ she said, holding out the current hairbrush she used. Red, yellow, black, white and pink furs were sticking out of its bristles in all directions. Braixen, Pancham and Sylveon scratched the back of their heads at the same time with embarrassment. ‘‘It’ll be super quick; I’ll be right back!’’

‘‘Hey, wait for me!’’ Pikachu said eagerly from Satoshi’s shoulder. Satoshi’s senses shot up and his reflexes allowed him to stop Pikachu from jumping off.

‘‘Pikachu,’’ he warned in a tone only his Pokémon could hear. ‘‘I don’t want any funny business with Serena.’’

Pikachu feigned offense. ‘‘Me? Telling Serena about your undying love for her? How could I?’’

Satoshi gave him a look.

‘‘Okay, okay, I promise I won’t,’’ Pikachu said with amusement. ‘‘I just… I like talking to her, you know?’’

That was something Satoshi could agree on. ‘‘Yeah, I know. But still—’’

‘‘Yeah, no funny business, I get it.’’ Pikachu’s eyes glistened. ‘‘Maybe I can get her to buy me a new bottle of ketchup before we come back!’’

‘‘You’re impossible.’’

‘‘Pikachu! Are you coming or not?’’ Serena called out to him, standing at the Pokémon Center exit.

‘‘Absolutely!’’ Pikachu said, already running toward her.

He climbed on her shoulder and Serena gave Satoshi an apologetic smile. ‘‘Sorry I’ve been stealing Pikachu so much lately,’’ she said.

‘‘It’s okay,’’ he said before winking. ‘‘Just be sure to come back quick, yeah? I want to get going as soon as possible. I feel like I haven’t stretched these legs in years.’’

‘‘Don’t worry about it,’’ Serena answered. ‘‘We’ll be back in five minutes.’’ She made a show of jogging in place to prove her point, which elicited a chuckle from Satoshi, before actually taking off in the direction of the shop.

‘‘Can you buy me some ketchup?’’ Pikachu implored for the third time since they had entered the town. It had been exactly two minutes since they had entered the town.

‘‘I’ll do it after I buy a new brush, Pikachu,’’ Serena repeated, also for the third time. ‘‘But I won’t do it if you remind me even one more time.’’

‘‘This Pikachu’s mouth is closed!’’ The Pokémon fastened an imaginary zipper across his mouth. Serena rolled her eyes fondly, knowing that shutting up had become the last thing in Pikachu’s mind since she was able to understand his every word.

Serena walked by many stores, trying to recall which one sold the hairbrush she had seen. She stopped in front of a store with a poster that had a beautiful Ninetales painted over it.

‘‘Is this the shop?’’ Pikachu asked, looking through the window of the store.

‘‘Mhmm!’’ she hummed affirmatively, and they went inside.

‘‘Now you’ll buy me my ketchup?’’ Pikachu said once they were back outside. Serena stopped admiring her new hairbrush to pout at him.

‘‘Whose money do you think I’ll be spending by buying that for you? I’m making you a favor here, so you could at least be quiet!’’

He shook his head dramatically. ‘‘Nobody understands your beauty, my dear ketchup.’’

Serena rolled her eyes and was about to head in the direction of the square when she caught something in the corner of her eye. When she turned around, she was surprised to find a figure waving at her from under a tree, right on the outskirts of town and at the start of the forest. When she squinted to take a better look, she realized it looked like Satoshi.

‘‘Hey, isn’t that Satoshi?’’ she asked Pikachu. He looked at the figure too and tilted his head.

‘‘It’s impossible to mistake that fashion sense,’’ Pikachu said, sounding more admiring of Satoshi’s ‘fashion sense’ than pejorative.

‘‘Did he follow us?’’ Serena wondered as she began to walk toward Satoshi.

‘‘Maybe he wanted to make sure you were okay,’’ Pikachu said in a knowing tone Serena couldn’t quite understand. The thought of Satoshi worrying about her was sweet, but still confusing.

‘‘You’re with me though, and he said he’d wait with the rest…’’

‘‘Let’s ask him ourselves,’’ Pikachu suggested.

‘‘You’re right.’’ Serena picked up the pace until she was right in front of Satoshi. She smiled at him sweetly and showed him her most recent purchase. ‘‘Hey, Satoshi! Look at my new hairbrush! Doesn’t it look cute?’’

Satoshi remained silent. He barely spared Serena a glance before his eyes set on Pikachu.

‘‘Um, Satoshi?’’ she asked.

She suddenly felt Pikachu squeezing her shoulder. When she turned at the Pokémon, she saw he was smiling. But it seemed fake.

‘‘Serena,’’ Pikachu said in a cheerful tone, but it was as fake as his smile. ‘‘Don’t panic, but this is not Satoshi.’’ What? she asked mentally. When she turned back at the boy in front of her, an uncomfortable shiver ran down her spine. He looked exactly like Satoshi, but she quickly realized he didn’t give the merry, jovial vibe Satoshi usually did. ‘‘Make up an excuse to go back to the Pokémon Center immediately,’’ Pikachu said, still maintaining his convivial attitude.

Serena took a deep breath and plastered a matching smile on her face. ‘‘Um, Satoshi! Now that I think about it, we should continue our journey now. You can wait here if you want, I’ll just go look for something at the Pokémon Center and I’ll be back—’’

‘‘Watch out!’’ Pikachu shouted. When Serena looked up, he was already in the air and generating an Electro Ball. He threw it as soon as it was ready and it collided with a Shadow Ball that had been heading directly toward them.

Serena coughed and waved her hands around to try and dissipate the smoke from the collision of the two attacks. When the smoke cleared out, Pikachu was standing in a defensive position in front of her. Five feet away from them, an Aegislash floated next to the fake Satoshi. The latter was looking impassive, as if he wasn’t in the middle of impersonating someone else and attacking that person’s friends.

‘‘Run away,’’ Pikachu told her. Sparks of electricity were flowing angrily on his red cheeks as he scowled at their two attackers. ‘‘Tell Satoshi and the others. I’ll hold them here.’’

‘‘I’m not leaving you here on your own!’’ Serena said quickly, a fire of determination expanding inside her chest. ‘‘You’re one of the strongest Pokémon I know. We can take this guy!’’

‘‘Serena—’’

‘‘We have no time for this,’’ the fake Satoshi said, startling both of them. He snapped his fingers and, in a blink, Serena and Pikachu found themselves surrounded by an Aromatisse, an Exploud, an Eelektross and a Hydreigon. They were covering every possible escape route.

Serena gulped. Maybe not. Her previous fire of determination was becoming a growing seed of fear as she realized there was no way out. She felt stupid. Why had she left the Pokémon Center without her Pokémon? What kind of trainer was she? But, even if she had her Pokémon with her, would they be enough to defeat all of these…? She looked back at the town. Not even one soul was walking around, and the employees inside the stores hadn’t seemed to have heard anything. She didn’t have her Pokédex on her either, as she had given it to Eureka so the little girl could play with it before going out.

Pikachu stood closer to Serena, clenching his teeth. He looked around to all the big, strong-looking Pokémon that surrounded them. Damn it. Satoshi will be mad if Serena gets hurt, he thought. Electricity began to flow from his cheeks again. I’m getting mad already just by the prospect of it. No matter what, I need to find a way to get Serena to safety. But what can I do?!

‘‘Serena,’’ he whispered so only she could hear him, ‘‘I will attack them, and you’ll try to find any possible breach to get away. You cannot fight me on this. We need help.’’

Serena listened to Pikachu’s words and had to agree with him. She hated the idea of leaving Pikachu alone with all of them, but there was virtually no way for them to get out of this situation on their own…

‘‘Give me the Pikachu and no one gets hurt,’’ fake Satoshi said, as impassive as ever. Serena scowled deeply at him, furious. Screw this. That guy was targeting Pikachu specifically, and who knew what he wanted to do with him?

‘‘I am not giving you this Pikachu,’’ she said with the courage she didn’t know she had. When fake Satoshi’s expression finally showed an emotion, and it happened to be anger, she realized she was also acting with a recklessness she didn’t have before. But she still didn’t back off. Satoshi’s rubbing off on me, she thought, and just like Satoshi, I will protect Pikachu to the very end.

‘‘Serena, stop that!’’ Pikachu scolded. ‘‘You’re going to get hurt, or even worse!’’

‘‘What about you?!’’ she retorted. ‘‘You’re my friend. You’re just as important as I am.’’ She shifted her position on the floor, standing firmer. ‘‘I’m not letting him take you.’’

Pikachu couldn’t help but admire Serena’s determination for a Pokémon that wasn’t even hers. She never stopped reminding him of Satoshi. And, speaking of…

Satoshi’s absolutely going to kill me now, he thought. No, I need to find a way. There’s gotta be a way, because there’s always one. Serena’s counting on me.

Pikachu’s efforts to find a way out were cut short when tiny green particles began to fall on him. One of them fell on his nose, causing him to sneeze. Suddenly, he began to feel drowsy. He looked up when he heard Serena sneezing too, and his eyes widened (as much as his drowsiness allowed) when he noticed the Venomoth flying over them.

It was using Sleep Powder. And they were covered by it.

Serena kneeled on the grass, eyes half-closed. ‘‘Pikachu… What is th…’’ she murmured before she went to lie down on her side. She fell asleep.

‘‘Hmm, this might come in handy,’’ the impostor said, smiling for the first time.

‘‘Serena…!’’ Pikachu said with alarm. He tried to battle the powder the best he could, but it was getting too hard to keep his eyes open. Suddenly remembering one of the first strategies he had used with Satoshi in Kalos, he began to generate an Electro Ball with every ounce of his willpower.

‘‘No, you won’t,’’ he heard the voice of the impostor say. ‘‘Aegislash.’’

Pikachu cried out in pain when a new Shadow Ball impacted his tail, canceling his attack. The pain disappeared right after it came as his body went numb with sleepiness. His paws gave up and he tumbled next to Serena. The last thing he saw before closing his eyes was Serena’s sleeping face, and he wished for everything to be fine in the end.

‘‘Hey! That’s my apple!’’ Jessie exclaimed, pointing an accusatory finger at James. ‘‘I left it on that branch while I took care of my flyaways; give it back!’’

‘‘Finders keepers,’’ James said before taking a bite from said apple. ‘‘Hmm, yummy!’’

‘‘Why you little—’’

‘‘You guys,’’ Meowth called out to them, watching something from the branch he was sitting on. ‘‘Look over here. You will not believe this.’’

‘‘What is it, Meowth?’’ James asked as he and Jessie moved to the same branch as Meowth. The cat Pokémon pointed with his paw at the dirt road that led outside of Andarus City. Both humans gasped when they caught the sight.

Satoshi was holding a sleeping Pikachu; that was normal. What wasn’t normal, however, were the Aegislash, Aromatisse, Exploud, Eelektross and Venomoth that were following him. Moreover, there was also a Hydreigon that was, for some reason, carrying a sleeping Serena on its back. The blond siblings that were part of Satoshi’s gang were nowhere to be seen.

‘‘What in the…’’ James uttered.

‘‘Since when did he get all of those Pokémon?’’ Jessie asked.

‘‘And why is one of them carrying the twerpette like that? Who even sleeps at this hour?’’ Meowth continued the line of questions.

‘‘Wobbuffet!’’ said the blue Pokémon as he exited his Poké Ball and stood on the branch they were all sitting on. The same branch that was starting to give up under their weight.

‘‘Wait—’’

‘‘Wobbuffet, get out of here—’’

‘‘We should’ve seen this coming.’’

The tree branch finally broke and the four of them fell on the grass near the dirt road; right next to Satoshi and his very scary-looking new Pokémon.

Jessie, James and Meowth shared a panicked look before Jessie shook her head and stood up. ‘‘We’re not going to be intimidated by his new team! Prepare for trouble!’’

‘‘And make it double!’’ James joined in.

‘‘To protect the world from devastation!’’

‘‘To unite all peoples within our nation!’’

‘‘To denounce the evils of—’’

‘‘Hyper Voice.’’

Just like it was commanded, Exploud opened its large mouth and sent an obnoxiously loud Hyper Voice toward Team Rocket. They immediately stopped reciting their motto to cover their ears, their complaints drowned out by the noise. Once the move was over, Jessie’s expression became furious and she glared at Satoshi.

‘‘How dare you?!’’ she fumed.

‘‘You rude little twerp!’’ James said.

Satoshi didn’t even blink at them before he continued to walk down the road, his Pokémon following behind.

‘‘Hey! Are you even listening to us?!’’ Jessie shouted with sheer indignation. He’s become a real brat all of a sudden!

‘‘We’ll teach you not to mess with us by stealing your Pikachu!’’ Meowth said and the rest of them backed him up with a ‘‘Yeah!’’

This seemed to finally catch Satoshi’s attention. He stopped walking and set his eyes on Meowth. The cat quickly felt like running away. His gaze was so intense, and it wasn’t the kind of intensity Satoshi usually had whenever they threatened to steal his Pikachu. This was somewhat deranged.

‘‘A talking Meowth,’’ Satoshi said, and his voice was nothing like Satoshi. ‘‘How interesting.’’

Meowth gulped. ‘‘Hey guys, I think we should take the day off and leave the twerp alone for today,’’ he suggested with a nervous smile.

‘‘Meowth? What has gotten into you?’’ James asked, confused by his partner’s sudden change of heart.

‘‘And why is the twerp’s voice so different? Did puberty finally hit you or something?’’ Jessie inquired with a raised eyebrow.

Satoshi wordlessly pointed at Meowth with his index finger. His Pokémon promptly set their eyes on the cat as if he was their next prey. Meowth gulped again and began to back away.

‘‘Seriously, guys, today I’m not in the mood for— AHHH!’’

‘‘Hey! Give Meowth back!’’

‘‘T-the Dragon Pulse that Hydreigon is preparing isn’t for us, is it…?’’

‘‘We’re blasting off again, but we’ll come back for Meowth! We swear!’’

Satoshi’s foot tapped on the floor for the umpteenth time. He stood up and began to pace around the common area again, his Pokémon watching his every move.

Serena had said she was only going to be out for five minutes. Serena had even exited the Pokémon Center in a jog. Serena never lied.

It had been exactly twenty minutes.

Serena hadn’t come back yet.

Pikachu’s with her, Satoshi pondered. If anything bad were to happen, he’d protect her. I know he will.

When he almost walked into a wall, he turned around and began to walk to the other side of the room.

But what if Team Rocket appeared, trying to steal Pikachu now that it’s only Serena and him? What if they hurt him? What if they hurt her?

Satoshi stopped in his tracks. ‘‘Serena hasn’t come back,’’ he said to Clemont and Eureka.

Clemont had been immersed in fixing a small gadget in his backpack and lost track of time, so he was surprised when Satoshi told him it had been twenty minutes since Serena had taken off. Eureka, on the contrary, had been sitting next to Satoshi’s Pokémon the whole time, looking at him as he paced around and worried his head over Serena.

‘‘Do you really think she’s in danger?’’ Eureka asked with worry.

‘‘Eh? Who said anything about danger?’’ Clemont quickly chimed in. ‘‘Maybe she saw a dress she liked, or maybe they met some new Pokémon they hadn’t seen before! We shouldn’t jump to conclusions.’’

Satoshi shook his head. ‘‘Whatever it is, I feel something’s wrong.’’ He turned at the siblings. ‘‘Are you ready to go?’’

Eureka nodded eagerly, standing up from her seat. Clemont knew there was no way to change Satoshi’s mind once he was set on something, and he was starting to worry too, so he saved his tools and shouldered his backpack.

Braixen, Pancham and Sylveon were the first ones at the door, as determined to go find their trainer as Satoshi was. They had been talking amongst themselves at a corner at first, but every minute that had passed without Serena appearing had made them grow more and more restless.

Satoshi nodded at them and opened the door. ‘‘Let’s go!’’

‘‘I’m right behind you!’’ Eureka said.

‘‘Here we go again,’’ Clemont muttered to himself as he ran as best as he could to keep up with them.

‘‘Talonflame, search for Serena and Pikachu from above!’’

Talonflame didn’t need to hear it twice; right after they entered the town, it dived swiftly up in the air and began to search for its friends. Satoshi and the others ran around the different stores in town, looking inside each one of them to check if Serena was there.

Satoshi spotted a store that sold items related to Pokémon healthcare and rushed inside. The store clerk confirmed that a honey-blonde girl with a Pikachu on her shoulder had come and bought a pink hairbrush.

‘‘That was around twenty minutes ago,’’ the clerk said.

Damn it.

Satoshi exited the store and told everyone else the news. Clemont was finally convinced that they needed to start worrying. If Serena had already bought the brush, why hadn’t she come back?

Talonflame flew to join them again, shaking its head no. The town was small. If Serena were still there, they would’ve found her by then.

‘‘Look over there!’’ Eureka said, pointing at a tree on the outskirts of town. They ran there and the details were easier to see. The grass in that area was damaged, as if a Pokémon had launched an attack right there. Clemont noticed there were also small green particles lying around.

‘‘Some kind of dust… maybe a powder,’’ he mused, adjusting his glasses and squinting at it.

Satoshi’s eyes widened and his heart thumped painfully in his chest when he caught sight of something else on the ground. He kneeled and took it in his hand, touching it with his fingers. It was a short strand of hair. Silky honey-blonde hair that probably used to smell like flowers.

Eureka gasped when she saw it too. ‘‘Serena was here…?’’ she uttered quietly.

‘‘Syl.’’ Sylveon reached out for the strand of hair with her feelers. After Satoshi nodded, she took it from him and began to smooth it. Braixen and Pancham stood at both sides of her. There was a glint of uneasy apprehension in all of their eyes.

‘‘This is Sleep Powder,’’ Clemont spoke up, no doubt in his voice. ‘‘I knew I recognized it from somewhere. I began to inform myself on different powder moves after your Gym matches with Viola, and this is the same kind her Vivillon used on Pikachu.’’

A battle. Sleep Powder. Neither Serena nor Pikachu came back.

‘‘Someone kidnapped Serena,’’ Satoshi said out loud. ‘‘They probably have Pikachu too.’’

‘‘What?!’’ Eureka asked with utter shock.

‘‘I didn’t want to believe it,’’ Clemont said, face crinkling with concern, ‘‘but the evidence is right here.’’

Something told Satoshi that Team Rocket was not responsible for this. None of their current Pokémon knew Sleep Powder, and even if one of them did, the members of the team weren’t exactly known for being able to carry out such smooth plans like this one.

This felt more sinister than those daily attempts at stealing Pikachu.

Satoshi stood up. There was no time to lose. ‘‘Greninja!’’ he called out. Greninja was right in front of him in the blink of an eye. ‘‘I need our bond.’’

That was all Satoshi needed to say. Greninja nodded earnestly and closed his eyes.

Their blood burned inside them, their heartbeats synchronizing, and they let out a battle cry. Next thing everyone knew, Greninja had an oversized Water Shuriken on his back and he shared Satoshi’s look of determination in his red eyes.

Clemont and Eureka stared with surprise. Satoshi and Greninja had never bonded in order to bring Satoshi–Greninja so fast before.

‘‘Let’s go find them,’’ Satoshi said, frowning purposefully.

The objective was simple: Satoshi and Greninja would use the special abilities their bond granted them to look for hints that normal humans and Pokémon couldn’t see. Footsteps, loose tree branches, maybe more of Serena’s hair or Pikachu’s fur.

They had found some footsteps to a road that led outside of town. However, the footsteps faded right after they reached an intersection; it divided the path into two roads, one to the north and the other one to the northwest. Satoshi and Greninja were scanning the ground as best as they could to find more hints; even Clemont’s Luxray was doing everything he could to help with his x-ray vision.

Suddenly, Eureka saw something moving in the bushes. ‘‘Guys, look!’’

Everyone stood still at first. Some seconds later and after seeing what it was with their enhanced vision, Satoshi, Greninja and Luxray rolled their eyes and continued their search. ‘‘It’s Team Rocket,’’ Satoshi said with a dismissive wave. ‘‘I don’t have time to deal with them today.’’

Jessie and James fell out of the bushes right after Satoshi spoke. They seemed disoriented. Jessie’s hair was a mess, which was incredibly unusual. Eureka crossed her arms as she looked at them sitting up. ‘‘You guys either had a bad day or someone other than us sent you blasting off again,’’ she said.

James sent her a look, scratching his head. ‘‘Those two things aren’t mutually exclusive.’’

‘‘My hair!’’ Jessie shouted with distress after she noticed the state of her dark pink hair. ‘‘Don’t look at me! I need to get this fixed—’’ She let out another shout after she saw Satoshi some feet across from her. ‘‘It’s you again!’’

Satoshi only spared her a brief unimpressed look. ‘‘I’m not thrilled to see you guys, either.’’

‘‘And you’re just as rude as before,’’ James said. He tried to stand up, but his lower back cracked loudly and he sank back on the ground with a grimace.

‘‘Give Meowth back right now!’’ Jessie exclaimed, glaring at Satoshi.

‘‘Give Meowth back?’’ Clemont asked. ‘‘We haven’t seen him all day.’’

‘‘Of course you haven’t,’’ James said, pointing at Clemont first and then nodding at the raven-haired trainer nearby. ‘‘The twerp stole him from us when you weren’t around.’’

‘‘They’ve truly lost it now,’’ Satoshi mumbled. He shared a look with Greninja and then glanced at Luxray. ‘‘Nothing yet?’’ Luxray shook his head. ‘‘Damn it,’’ he muttered. ‘‘We gotta keep searching.’’

‘‘Seriously, what’s gotten into him?’’ James asked as he and Jessie stared at Satoshi.

Eureka rolled her eyes. ‘‘You wouldn’t understand. Someone kidnapped Serena and Pikachu, the person and Pokémon he loves the most!’’

Satoshi didn’t have the time to panic and/or deny that statement. Not like it was a lie, anyway.

James stared at Eureka, seemingly putting two and two together, while Jessie huffed. ‘‘Pikachu seemed perfectly fine in his arms last time we saw him. Catching that gigantic Hydreigon is cheating, by the way.’’

Satoshi froze. He turned at Jessie. ‘‘Hydreigon?’’

Jessie pouted. ‘‘What? You want me to congratulate you for getting that thing? I could get myself any Legendary without moving a finger if I wanted to—’’

James suddenly held out a hand to shut Jessie up. ‘‘We saw someone who looked exactly like you some minutes ago. He had an Aegislash, a Hydreigon, an Exploud, an Aromatisse, an Eelektross and a Venomoth.’’

‘‘Someone that looked exactly like Satoshi?’’ Clemont pondered, frowning pensively. He gasped quietly. Could it be… that Kecleon criminal Officer Jenny was talking about before?

James nodded. ‘‘I think he was holding your Pikachu in his arms. I’m not sure why, but he was sleeping soundly. The guy then discovered us and took Meowth away.’’

Satoshi was already walking toward him. ‘‘He had Pikachu?’’

‘‘The twerpette was also sleeping on the Hydreigon’s back,’’ Jessie mumbled, looking unbothered. She almost yelped when Satoshi all but teleported in front of her.

‘‘HE HAD SERENA?’’

‘‘Is this normal to you guys?’’ Jessie asked the blond siblings and the Pokémon around them. ‘‘Because I think this brat ate too much sugar this morn—’’

‘‘Where did he go?’’ Satoshi asked, cutting her off.

James raised an eyebrow. ‘‘You may be onto something, Jess—’’

Satoshi was now in front of James, grabbing the latter’s shirt with both of his hands and looking at him in the eye. Satoshi’s auburn eyes were fierce and his hold was firmer than ever. ‘‘Where. Did. He. Go?’’ he asked again, his voice deep and leaving no room for debate whatsoever.

James stared with wide eyes. The fake Satoshi had been threatening, but this was a completely different kind of scary. He pointed at the dirt road that led to the north. ‘‘He followed that route—’’

‘‘Let’s go,’’ Satoshi said to his gang, releasing James’ shirt and standing up. Everyone else nodded and they began to run down that path.

Letting out a breath, James did his best to smooth down his shirt. ‘‘That kid sure is intense today.’’

‘‘We gotta follow him,’’ Jessie said, seemingly in a better mood now that she had fixed her hair. ‘‘That impostor still has Meowth, after all.’’

Wobbuffet exited his Poké Ball. ‘‘Wobbuffet!’’

James frowned at him. ‘‘So now you come out. Where were you when a sixteen-year-old was staring daggers into my soul?’’

‘‘Wobbuffet…?’’

When Serena opened her eyes, she was met with darkness.

She blinked a few times to let her vision adapt and slowly sat down. She held her head and almost wheezed when she felt a stinging pain on the back of it.

Ahhh…

She didn’t remember being attacked, so it was probably a result of the cold, hard ground she had been sleeping on. Speaking of remembering…

Right before she could’ve thought of a plan of action with Pikachu to somehow defeat the fake Satoshi, she had begun to feel incredibly sleepy, and Pikachu talking to her was the last thing she had seen as her eyes had fallen shut.

Her vision adapted quickly, but what she was able to see still wasn’t anything remarkable. The previous darkness was now a very dim blue light. As she looked around, she wasn’t able to identify any shapes—or that was until she looked right in front of her.

His fur was obscured by the lack of illumination, but she could still recognize Pikachu anywhere. And it seemed Pikachu was able to do the same thing regarding her.

‘‘Serena!’’ Pikachu exclaimed when their eyes met. ‘‘You’re finally awake!’’

‘‘Pikachu!’’ Serena moved forward to hug Pikachu but was held back by a shackle. A shackle that was holding her ankle. Huh?! Since when is this…

She went to shield her eyes when bright sparks of electricity appeared from Pikachu’s cheeks. He was using his electricity as a temporal lamp. ‘‘Oh, yeah,’’ Pikachu said after he saw why Serena had moved like she did. ‘‘The shackles. That impostor wasn’t going to take any chances at anyone escaping.’’ He lifted one of his hind legs to show Serena he also had a shackle. He didn’t look amused about that at all.

Serena knew that, if there was enough light to see her face with clarity, Pikachu would notice how pale she was right now. She had been asleep for Arceus knows how long, just like Pikachu. Her clothes were intact and the only thing seemingly out of place was her headache, but she still felt uneasy. She was cuffed inside a room probably no one else knew about. Who knew what kind of person the man that had kidnapped her was? What did he want from her if she wasn’t a Pokémon he could trade for money?

Serena didn’t want to think about it. So instead, she looked around again, now that she had Pikachu’s provisional light to help her. She gasped when she saw another cuffed Pokémon next to Pikachu.

‘‘That’s Meowth,’’ Pikachu explained. ‘‘He was already here when I woke up. He was probably attacked by Sleep Powder too.’’

Sleep Powder. That was what had made her so sleepy before.

That impostor son of a Jynx.

‘‘I know,’’ Pikachu said, and Serena realized she had said the words out loud. ‘‘But don’t worry. When he comes back, he’s going to learn what real electricity feels like.’’ More than just determined, Pikachu looked straight out of a horror movie as he said it. The sparks of electricity he was periodically releasing became bigger and sharper as he seemed to be warming up in case danger was nearby. Serena knew Pikachu enough by now to know when he wasn’t just kidding. She felt relieved to have him by her side and to be able to share with him her not-so-merry feelings concerning their kidnapper.

She wondered where Satoshi was. Would he be capable of locating them? What would they do if he couldn’t?

Serena needed to find a way out herself. Well, not herself; with Pikachu’s help. And… maybe Meowth’s? If Team Rocket wasn’t associated with the impostor (and she had a feeling they weren’t), then Meowth should ally with them so they could all escape together, right?

‘‘Nya…’’ Serena and Pikachu turned when they heard the third member of their party waking up. Meowth sat down with a hiss, scratching his head. ‘‘Me–ow… Everything hurts… Where am I…?’’ The cat blinked when he saw Serena and Pikachu in front of him.

‘‘Welcome to the club of kidnappees,’’ Pikachu said with an acknowledging nod.

Meowth blinked again. He looked from Pikachu to Serena a couple of times before he groaned loudly and shook his head. ‘‘I just knew I should’ve taken the day off today.’’

Pikachu raised an eyebrow before turning to Serena. ‘‘I’m going to stop providing light. I gotta rest for when the right time comes.’’

‘‘Okay,’’ answered Serena. ‘‘We could actually use the weak lighting as an advantage and take them by surprise.’’

Pikachu nodded and stopped releasing electricity. Meowth was still too disoriented to notice their exchange, but didn’t seem surprised when everything went dark again.

‘‘So,’’ the cat said, now more active and ready for action, ‘‘do we have an escape plan?’’

‘‘As Serena said, we should use the element of surprise,’’ Pikachu began. ‘‘We’re cuffed and I already tried to use Iron Tail on the shackles to no avail, but that doesn’t mean we can’t try to wear them down with multiple attacks. If we manage to break free, we can decide whether to wait for someone to come and ambush them or to get out of this room ourselves. I was waiting for you guys to wake up because I didn’t want to tire myself out by trying it by myself.’’

‘‘That seems plausible. It’s not like we have a lot of options anyway,’’ Meowth commented. ‘‘I’ll translate what you said to Serena.’’ His voice sounded closer as he turned at the honey-blonde. ‘‘Pikachu says that—’’

‘‘Don’t worry, Meowth,’’ Serena interrupted. ‘‘You don’t need to translate.’’

‘‘Yeah,’’ Pikachu said dismissively. ‘‘We should start with our plan now. There’s no time to lose.’’

‘‘Wait, wait, wait. What do you mean I don’t need to translate?’’ Meowth sounded confused.

They stayed silent for some seconds.

‘‘Should we tell him?’’ Pikachu asked.

Serena shook her head, action that they could see even with the weak light. ‘‘It would be too convoluted to explain right now. And you said it, there’s no time.’’

‘‘Right.’’

‘‘What?’’ Meowth was way past bewilderment by now. ‘‘How are you understanding Pikachu language? Only the twerp can do that!’’

‘‘Meowth, we just said we’re in a hurry—’’

‘‘I’m not moving a paw until you tell me what’s up. Are you a witch or something? Maybe a Pokémon that adopted the form of a human? I can understand how you’re so close to the twerp if both of you are so freaking weird! Or is every human randomly capable of speaking fluent Pokémon now?!’’

Serena didn’t know if she should feel flattered or insulted by that. Pikachu, on the other hand, sounded amused when he next spoke.

‘‘Are you upset because your translating services aren’t required?’’ Pikachu released electricity again to temporarily illuminate Meowth’s face. True to his suspicion, the cat seemed taken aback by the comment. Pikachu smirked and turned at Serena. ‘‘He’s always been proud of being a Pokémon that’s able to talk like humans. He sometimes pretends he doesn’t like it, but in the end, he’s always pleased when people need him to understand something. He considers himself Poké–Human–lingual or something.’’

Serena couldn’t help the little smile on her face. ‘‘Really?’’

‘‘That’s not true!’’ Meowth complained and crossed his arms with dramatic indignation. ‘‘I just like to help fellow Pokémon communicate with humans, that’s all.’’

‘‘Yeah, of course. Don’t pretend you’re not annoyed by the way Satoshi has never needed your services to understand me.’’

Meowth gasped soap opera style. He sharpened his claws and brought them up for them to see. ‘‘You wanna go, you yellow rat?!’’

‘‘I can leave you looking like a sorry hairball with a Thunderbolt if you’d like,’’ Pikachu replied smugly.

‘‘Now you’ve done it!’’ Meowth lunged forward, aiming at Pikachu’s face with his sharpened claws. Pikachu nodded at Serena and she understood what he wanted her to do. She gripped the chain of Pikachu’s shackles and extended it just as Pikachu moved to the side to avoid the incoming attack. Meowth’s claws landed on the chain and a shrill metallic sound was heard as they scratched against the surface. Everyone looked at the chain afterward. It looked perfectly intact.

Pikachu scoffed at Meowth. ‘‘I expected too much of your Scratch. Not even in a battling mindset were you able to leave a mark.’’

‘‘Excuse me?!’’ Meowth was fuming. ‘‘And what about your Iron Tail? I don’t see marks anywhere either!’’

The electric mouse took a section of the chain a little farther from the section Meowth had hit and turned it around. Serena and Meowth were able to see a small diagonal line, result of his Iron Tail.

‘‘It’s better than nothing,’’ Pikachu said. ‘‘I hate to admit it, but I’m still gonna need you if we want to cut these as soon as possible, so you better actually try next time.’’

Meowth scowled at him and mumbled, ‘‘The audacity of some Pokémon.’’

‘‘Are you always such a bully to Meowth?’’ Serena asked with curiosity, finally speaking since the whole exchange had begun. She scooted some inches away, wary of the way Meowth seemed to be cursing at Pikachu’s entire ancestry at the moment.

Pikachu shrugged. ‘‘Not really. I’m just riling him up extra hard because the moment requires it.’’ He then whispered to her with a smile, ‘‘It’s not like I’m not enjoying it, if I’m being honest.’’

They both turned around when Meowth sighed. Serena thought for a second he was going to threaten Pikachu again, but the cat simply looked at both of them and began sharpening his claws even more, looking more resigned than angry.

‘‘I gotta give it to you, you got me good.’’

‘‘Anytime, buddy.’’

‘‘But once this is over, I’m handing your electric ass to my boss, and this time I’m for real.’’

Pikachu nodded, already accustomed to the usual threats of Team Rocket. ‘‘Yes, of course. You do you.’’

Serena resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Pokémon were just like humans when it came to rivalry and pettiness. Or maybe it was just these two adopting human tendencies because of the very long time they’ve spent next to humans.

Either way, she was indeed glad she didn’t need Meowth to translate everything to her. It almost felt freeing, in a way. Here she was, a human girl communicating with two Pokémon pretty much flawlessly and listening to them bickering. She could just imagine how out of context Meowth’s sudden anger would’ve sounded like if she hadn’t known Pikachu had been riling him up.

After Meowth finished sharpening his claws, they went back to the mission at hand—or rather at paw—and began to attack the shackles, beginning with Pikachu’s since it was already somehow damaged.

Some tense minutes of the two Pokémon attacking the shackles nonstop went by. Pikachu was forced to keep providing electricity so they could land their attacks on their target, and Serena knew he was getting exhausted faster than Meowth. But Pikachu’s stamina was always something that amazed Serena—he didn’t complain, not even once, during the whole time.

A piercing metallic sound surprised everyone and the next thing Serena and Meowth saw was Pikachu tumbling on his back with a thud. The room went dark again.

No one said a word, only Pikachu and Meowth’s panting filling the air. Pikachu sat down slowly and then resumed his job as the group’s lamp. All of their eyes landed on Pikachu’s chain, and…

‘‘It’s broken!’’ the three of them exclaimed.

‘‘You guys did it!’’ Serena felt hope resurfacing on her chest. For a moment, she had thought they wouldn’t be able to destroy their restraints. She began to pet Meowth’s head and gave him a radiant smile. ‘‘Good job, kitten!’’

‘‘Hey! Don’t call me kitt—! W-wait… Keep doing that— Yes, just like that… Actually, okay, you can call me whatever you want…’’ Meowth leaned on Serena’s touch and she had to stifle a laugh when she heard (and felt) a low purring coming from the cat.

Pikachu stood up and took in his paw the loose chain that had been keeping him restrained some seconds ago. He was free. His eyes were shining with renewed determination when he looked at Serena.

‘‘Your shackles are next.’’

‘‘Satoshi, did you see something?!’’ Eureka asked as they ran all the way to the north. They had been running aimlessly for the last twenty minutes, but then Satoshi and Greninja had gasped at the same time and had begun to run even faster in a specific direction.

‘‘A warehouse,’’ was Satoshi’s reply.

‘‘Oh Arceus, please let that be it,’’ Clemont said next to them. He sounded on the verge of collapsing as he rode on Luxray’s back. The run had been so intense that he hadn’t been able to keep up; Luxray had offered his back as a ride to avoid his trainer from passing out. The blond was still recovering.

The rest of the Pokémon were back in their Poké Balls to keep them rested except for Dedenne and Squishy (which were as always in Eureka’s bag) and Serena’s Pokémon.

Their pulses quickened when they were able to see the warehouse twenty feet away from them. The rest followed Satoshi and Greninja as they hid behind a few bushes right in front of the building. Finally being able to rest for some minutes, everyone panted and gazed at the warehouse. Satoshi, Greninja and Luxray were up front as they once again made use of their enhanced vision.

‘‘I can’t see too farther inside. The shapes are all blurry,’’ Satoshi said, and Clemont noticed how exhausted he sounded. He seemed like he was barely staying conscious. ‘‘Greninja, Luxray, anything?’’

Greninja shook his head, looking only slightly less exhausted than Satoshi. Luxray didn’t seem to be able to look too far into the building either.

‘‘Damn it,’’ Satoshi mumbled. His words were coming out slurred and breathy. ‘‘We gotta get inside. This is the only hint we have of Serena and Pikachu’s whereabouts.’’

‘‘Satoshi,’’ Clemont chimed in. ‘‘You should rest or you’re going to pass out from exhaustion!’’

The way Satoshi looked at him was something Clemont had never seen.

‘‘How could I rest when I don’t know if my best friends are okay?’’ he asked rhetorically. He was clearly trying to sound firm, but the way he was almost hyperventilating truly betrayed him.

‘‘Satoshi…?’’ Eureka asked, realizing his condition as well. ‘‘My bro is right, maybe you should—’’

‘‘Greninja, we go in on my signal,’’ Satoshi said, turning to his Pokémon as if no one had been talking to him.

‘‘Satoshi,’’ Clemont tried again, moving so he could look at Satoshi straight in the eye. ‘‘You’re not supposed to keep the Satoshi–Greninja transformation for so long. Your body is not capable of enduring such great and extended physical activity. If you don’t rest now, it could seriously hurt you!’’

‘‘Clemont, I’m okay, see?’’ Satoshi took a very deep breath and wiped the sweat off his forehead to prove his point. He was able to keep a steady voice when he spoke next. ‘‘I will rest once Serena and Pikachu are back here, with us. I promise.’’

‘‘Satoshi…’’ Clemont didn’t sound convinced.

‘‘There’s no time to lose, Clemont,’’ Satoshi pressed on.

‘‘But—’’

‘‘Guys!’’ Eureka said. ‘‘I think Dedenne located Pikachu!’’

The boys turned in a flash to the tiny Pokémon that was now outside of Eureka’s bag. Its eyes were closed as some sparks of electricity were emanating from its cheeks, and it looked deadly serious when it looked up at them.

‘‘Denne ne!’’

Satoshi and Clemont shared a meaningful look before Clemont sighed in defeat.

‘‘Okay. We’re going in. But once this is over, we’re booking it to the nearest Pokémon Center or whatever place we find where you can rest, got it?’’

Satoshi nodded. ‘‘Got it.’’ He looked at Greninja. ‘‘This is it.’’

Greninja was usually very earnest in everything his trainer commanded him to do, and he was good at keeping a stoical, impassive countenance no matter what. And even then, he looked slightly uneasy when he stared back at Satoshi. He knew how much Satoshi was pushing himself at the moment, considering Greninja was in similar conditions. But Greninja was a Pokémon, he could handle that. Satoshi was a human—him? Not so much.

However, there was something in Satoshi’s soul that was far more intense than the worryingly rapid beating of his heart; there was hope. Resolution. Desire. Need.

Satoshi needed to go inside that warehouse now and rescue what was dear to him. At that point, Satoshi didn’t care about what could happen to him; he only cared about Serena and Pikachu’s wellbeing, about making sure they were safe. And Greninja was going to grant him the opportunity to do it because he knew Satoshi would do the same for him.

(As much as he hated to think about what could happen to Satoshi after this.)

The trainer in question took one last deep breath before standing up. ‘‘Let’s go.’’

They all cheered when the last chain broke.

‘‘I’m finally free!’’ Meowth exclaimed. ‘‘But of course I was the last one to get freed because of some selfish Pokémon and person,’’ he added while squinting at them.

‘‘You ungrateful little furball,’’ Pikachu said, but he didn’t look truly bothered by the cat Pokémon’s words. ‘‘Serena, Meowth, part one of our plan is done. Now we need to decide if we stay here and wait or try to get out ourselves.’’

Meowth glanced at Serena. ‘‘You’re still able to understand what he says?’’

‘‘For the third time, yes, Meowth,’’ Serena answered. She then turned her focus to Pikachu. ‘‘Are you sure you’re okay? You look exhausted.’’

‘‘I’ve been through worse,’’ Pikachu said nonchalantly, although Serena had noticed that his electricity had been coming out weaker and weaker with every minute.

‘‘I can assure you, he has,’’ Meowth said. ‘‘Anyways, now that we can finally move, we should see if we can find a way out.’’

Serena and Pikachu agreed and they all began to move around the room. Serena and Meowth felt the walls with their hands/paws and Pikachu looked cautiously around with his light.

After some seconds, Serena felt something solid sticking out of the wall. She began to slide her fingers over it to try and figure out what it was. ‘‘Guys, I found someth—’’ She accidentally pressed her fingers against the solid surface and there was the sound of a click. The next time everyone blinked, the room was brighter than before—like a normal, decent level of brightness. The previously dim light was now vivid enough that they were able to see the rest of the room without a problem.

Pikachu stopped providing electricity and his left eye began to twitch.

‘‘There… there was a light switch here the whole time. I’ve been using up my electricity for an entire hour for absolutely no reason WHATSOEVER?’’

Meowth tried to muffle his laughter for exactly three seconds before he exploded into delighted cackles. ‘‘You useless excuse for a night lamp! Serves you right for messing with me!’’

‘‘Guys! Shhh!’’ Serena said before Pikachu went to murder Meowth right on the spot. ‘‘We’re going to get caught if we don’t stay quiet!’’

‘‘You’re lucky Serena is here, Meowth,’’ Pikachu said, ‘‘because I swear to Arceus you’d be dead by…’’ he trailed off, suddenly looking very focused.

‘‘What is it now? Has the Meowth got your tongue?’’ Meowth taunted. He frowned when he didn’t get an answer. ‘‘Come on! It’s not fair if you don’t react to my insults.’’

Pikachu’s cheeks abruptly flickered with electricity and he looked taken aback. He looked up at Serena and she stared back at him.

‘‘Pikachu, is that…?’’

The electric Pokémon nodded. ‘‘That was Dedenne. Satoshi and the others are outside.’’

Meowth clasped his paws together. ‘‘So we can throw the ‘waiting for someone to come’ plan out of the window, right?’’

Serena and Pikachu locked eyes before matching looks of determination settled on their faces.

‘‘To Giratina with waiting around,’’ Pikachu said.

‘‘Let’s get out of here,’’ Serena finished.

‘‘Oh! So now the three of us have a special motto too? I’ll join! So, um… Meowth, that’s right!’’

Pikachu deadpanned at Meowth, ‘‘You didn’t even say something original.’’

Meowth merely shrugged. ‘‘This was a last-minute decision, don’t expect a miracle from me.’’

After they finally decided to look at the rest of the room, they were quickly able to find a door. Pikachu used Iron Tail and slashed it in half.

Right outside of the room that had held them prisoners, there was a long corridor. They ran through it and, upon reaching the end, they entered a new room.

They gaped at the huge area that was in front of them. There were hundreds of racks that divided the space into different aisles. Some racks held boxes of diverse sizes, though Serena wasn’t able to discern what they contained, either because they were sealed or too high up for her to see. There were no windows and the long white lights hanging from the lofty ceiling were on.

They slowly began to walk through one of the aisles.

They were in a warehouse; that was clear. Truth to be told, the whole place seemed downright abandoned. Even when there were packages around, they weren’t even close to filling a quarter of the room. But, if the place was abandoned, why were the lights of this room on?

Serena shared an uneasy look with Pikachu and Meowth.

That could only mean—

The blaring sound of an attack landing right above them broke the eerie silence. When Serena looked up, she saw how a box that had been up on a rack was falling right toward her. Pikachu and Meowth moved to try and divert it, but it was too late. The box hit Serena with a blow to the head and she fell to the floor.

‘‘Serena!’’ Pikachu shouted frantically.

Serena’s previous headache came back to her full force and was four times worse than before. Or maybe five times. Ten times? Serena wasn’t in the right state for calculating such things right now. She was hurting too much to pass out this time though, so she opened her eyes and saw the horrified look in Pikachu’s own black eyes.

‘‘Serena!’’ he repeated. ‘‘Are you okay?’’

She felt like her head was pulsating, as if her accelerated heart had suddenly gone on a vacation in her brain and was now trying to get out through her skull. She glanced to her right and saw the box that had hit her had its contents spilled next to her. It had been full of small—but still very heavy—dumbbells.

‘‘The freak?!’’ she heard Meowth hissing somewhere to her left. Or was it her right? ‘‘That could’ve killed her! What the heck kind of warehouse is this?!’’

Serena groaned and tried to cover her ears at Meowth’s loud voice. Pikachu whispered to Meowth what seemed like an angry scolding to make him lower his voice before he talked to Serena.

‘‘Hey, Serena,’’ Pikachu told her in a soft voice, ‘‘everything will be okay. Just stay here, and we’ll deal with…’’ he trailed off, looking intently at somewhere in the distance, ears pricked on alert.

‘‘…What?’’ Serena asked, trying to ignore the incessant ringing in her ears. ‘‘What is it?’’

Pikachu’s expression turned enraged. He clenched his teeth and the electricity was so strong and over his face that Serena was barely able to see his red cheeks. ‘‘You,’’ he said in a growl.

Meowth’s teeth were clenched too, his feline fangs standing out more than Pikachu’s, and he seemed ready to pounce at any given moment. ‘‘We’re not afraid of you, you fake!’’ the cat exclaimed.

Once again ignoring how her head felt like it was about to explode, Serena shifted on the floor so she could face the direction the two Pokémon were looking at. Like she had thought, the fake Satoshi, the impostor, was standing at the end of the aisle. His Aegislash was, not surprisingly, floating next to him. The man was still disguised as Satoshi. Serena would’ve clenched her hands into fists… if only doing that didn’t immediately worsen her headache.

‘‘So you actually got out,’’ he said with perfect nonchalance. ‘‘I shouldn’t have underestimated you, I see that now. I’ll fix my mistake right now.’’ The rest of his Pokémon came into view. Hydreigon, Exploud, Aromatisse, Eelektross and Venomoth; some of them were hanging from racks around them, others were standing or flying on either end of the aisle. All of them were cutting off their exits.

The impostor looked down at Serena and she felt horrible. The look in his eyes wasn’t and would never be like Satoshi’s. They were devoid of Satoshi’s warmth, of Satoshi’s kindness. In the impostor’s eyes, she only saw apathy. A desolate, grim, complete apathy. As if the girl and Pokémon in front of him were just pawns he was using to get what he wanted.

‘‘I’m sorry, girl,’’ the impostor said, not even attempting to look apologetic. ‘‘I still need to keep you here in case things get complicated for me.’’

‘‘What are you even talking about?!’’ Meowth said. ‘‘I’m a member of an organization that steals Pokémon from people and even I can see how immoral and just downright evil this is!’’

‘‘Don’t bother,’’ Pikachu said lowly. ‘‘He’ll learn his lesson after we’re done with him.’’

‘‘You know, I like to see you’re so confident about this, but uh…’’ Meowth looked around, trying not to appear afraid. He wasn’t doing a very convincing job at that. ‘‘How are we planning on beating all of these guys?’’

‘‘I don’t know. What I know is that I’ll fight till the end. I let them capture us once, and thanks to that, Serena’s hurt. I will not give them that chance anymore, even if it costs me my life.’’

‘‘Pikachu…’’ Serena whispered. She was visibly fighting her headache. She felt faint. Everything was blurry and she didn’t know how much longer she would be able to stay conscious, even with the incredible pain she was in.

The impostor seemed about to command his Pokémon when a voice Serena absently recognized shouted from somewhere outside the building.

‘‘Clemontic Gear On! I call this the ‘Warehouse Entrance Opener’!—Yes, Eureka, I did envision a situation as specific as this—So, yeah, I just hit this button and…’’

Serena heard an explosion. She was facing away from the commotion, but even while dizzy she could promptly guess what had happened.

‘‘So it just… explodes and that opens the door?’’ Eureka asked in her usual disappointed tone.

‘‘Um… That wasn’t exactly what I had planned for, but… It worked, didn’t it?! So voilà! We’re in—’’

‘‘Serena! Pikachu! Where are you?!’’

Serena almost gasped when she heard his voice. She rolled on her back as fast as she could to face him. Pikachu and Meowth looked as relieved as she felt.

‘‘Satoshi! We’re here!’’ Pikachu shouted.

After fanning the smoke of the explosion away, Satoshi ran closer to the origin of his Pokémon’s voice. When his gaze landed on them, he looked relieved too—until he saw Serena lying on the ground. His pupils contracted as his auburn eyes frantically raked her form up and down with alarm.

She felt like crying when she saw her three Pokémon appear after Satoshi.

Braixen, Pancham, Sylveon.

‘‘Serena’s badly hurt!’’ Meowth exclaimed. Eureka gasped with concern as she looked from Serena to Meowth. Her Pokémon were in a similar state of shock. Satoshi’s eyes never left Serena. ‘‘A box full of dumbbells fell on her head and she seems to have one heck of a headache!’’

I failed you.

‘‘Dumbbells, you said?!’’ Clemont adjusted his glasses with urgency. ‘‘She must be severely concussed, we need to get her medical attention immediately!’’

‘‘So we have some unwanted company, don’t we?’’

Everyone stared with surprise at the man on the other side of the aisle. Nobody had noticed neither him nor his Pokémon when they had first arrived, being too focused on the trio conformed of Serena, Pikachu and Meowth.

‘‘He… he does look exactly like Satoshi,’’ Eureka said in a horrified murmur. Even his eyes were the same color as Satoshi’s now.

‘‘I was right.’’ Clemont moved to stand in front of his little sister protectively. ‘‘This is The Kecleon, one of the most wanted criminals in the region.’’

Serena didn’t want to be here. Serena wanted to be back in the Pokémon Center and spend the night with her friends and laugh as they had done before.

Satoshi’s gaze was still fixed on her. He was uncharacteristically quiet. Greninja—or rather Satoshi–Greninja—stood by his side, matching his trainer’s behavior.

Pikachu turned to his partner. ‘‘He’s the kidnapper, Satoshi. He ordered his Aegislash to attack the rack next to Serena and made the box hit her on the head. I don’t think I need to say more.’’ Pikachu looked more ready to battle than he had ever been when he nodded to Satoshi. ‘‘Come on.’’

Serena wanted to rest.

Suddenly, sleep didn’t sound so bad.

Yes. Serena wanted to sleep.

‘‘Satoshi…’’ she whispered as her eyelids began to grow heavy.

The visual of a heavily injured Serena about to slip into unconsciousness snapped Satoshi out of his trance.

‘‘Serena!’’ she heard him yell and could barely make out his shape running toward her.

‘‘Energy Ball.’’

A green sphere struck the ground in front of Satoshi, impeding his efforts to reach her. He landed on his bottom, hat falling next to him.

‘‘That’s enough,’’ said The Kecleon. ‘‘I’ll make you an offer, kid, and it’s the only one I’ll make. I’ll give you back your girlfriend for the mere price of your Pikachu. It’s easy enough to decide, isn’t it?’’ He snapped his fingers. His Pokémon were circling closer to the group, just waiting for their trainer’s orders.

Satoshi glared back at him, his eyes igniting with awakening rage. ‘‘You…’’

‘‘I would advise you not to try anything stupid. I’ve watched you and your little friends for enough time to know what you can and cannot do. I do not care about how strong you think you are. Accept my kind offer and get lost, it’s your best choice. Unless you want me to take her too?’’

‘‘People like you make me sick,’’ came as Satoshi’s answer. He stood up from the ground and adjusted his hat back on his head, this time turning it backward.

Maybe it was just Serena being delirious and hallucinating, but Satoshi looked almost out of it.

‘‘You really want me to beat you so badly, huh? Alright.’’ He wiped the cold sweat off his brow. He felt dangerously lightheaded and he knew he was on the verge of blacking out, but Satoshi had simply decided that slowing down to rest wasn’t an option he could take. His heart throbbed painfully in his chest when he glanced down at Serena.

Just resting while she was looking at him with those vulnerable blue eyes was not even considered as an option.

He glowered at the man responsible for Serena’s condition. Greninja swiftly stood to attention next to him. ‘‘You’re gonna regret what you’ve done. All of it.’’

The Kecleon shrugged. ‘‘Guess I should’ve expected your stubbornness would win over your common sense. I withdraw my offer, then. Hydreigon, Dragon Pulse.’’

‘‘Greninja, Water Shuriken!’’

The atmosphere that had been full of eerie apprehension abruptly transformed into complete chaos after those two attacks. All of The Kecleon’s Pokémon went from remaining relatively still to releasing a myriad of aggressive moves, as if their internal chip had been switched from alert to attack.

Serena didn’t know how she was keeping herself awake, but she was grateful for that. She was afraid of what could happen if she were to fall asleep—what could happen to anyone while she couldn’t even know about it.

Satoshi yelled for everyone to take cover before he called out Talonflame, Hawlucha and Noivern. Pikachu and Meowth stayed close to Serena as they redirected all of the attacks coming their way. Braixen, Pancham and Sylveon rushed to their trainer like nothing else mattered, slowly making progress as they had to dodge multiple attacks on their way.

‘‘Eureka, get out of here!’’ Clemont said, still protecting Eureka with his body. He had called out Bunnelby and Chespin as his Luxray sent multiple Swifts to the enemy Exploud to keep it at bay.

‘‘No! I can’t just go and leave you guys here!’’ Eureka countered. ‘‘Dedenne and I can fight! We can help—’’

‘‘I didn’t ask you to do it,’’ Clemont said, and Serena had never heard him sound so serious before. The light shining over his glasses made it impossible to see his eyes. ‘‘This is an order, Eureka.’’ He pointed to the exit. ‘‘Go to safety. Now!’’

‘‘But—’’

‘‘Luxray, please help me out here!’’

Luxray roared and ran toward the younger sibling. He took the collar of Eureka’s shirt with his teeth, against the little girl’s protests, and made a beeline for the warehouse entrance.

Eureka was trying to squirm out of Luxray’s hold. ‘‘No! Let me go! I want to stay!’’

‘‘Squishy!’’ Clemont called out before they were out of earshot. ‘‘I’ll trust you to keep her safe!’’

The aforementioned Pokémon chirped in agreement from Eureka’s bag; Dedenne did the same.

Clemont turned back to the battlefield, narrowly jumping away from an Echoed Voice Exploud had launched. Luxray reappeared some seconds later, having dropped Eureka somewhere outside the building, and jumped into battle just as fast with Thunder Fang.

Serena looked around in a desperate attempt to find Satoshi, but there were so many things happening that everything she could see was different colored blurs. She screeched with pain when a rack fell to the ground some feet away with a loud crash.

‘‘Everything will be okay,’’ she heard Pikachu say. She couldn’t tell where he was anymore. ‘‘I promise, okay? Satoshi–Greninja will wipe the floor with— Meowth!’’

‘‘Argh! The ‘Romatisse got me! Someone do something!’’

‘‘Piiiikaaa…chuuuu!’’ There was a small pause. ‘‘Are you okay?’’

‘‘Maybe warn me when you’re gonna go full Thunderbolt next time— Ahhh! Now the Eelektross?! Why do you guys hate cats so much?!’’

‘‘Shut up and back me up!’’

From here on, everyone divided into different skirmishes, helping each other either with or without a trainer to command them; all of this in hopes of defeating all of The Kecleon’s Pokémon.

The battle had officially begun.

Chapter Text

After Pikachu’s Thunderbolt, Aromatisse had decided she didn’t want to battle Pikachu and Meowth, so she had done something very simple to distract them and run away.

She had released an odor so revolting that her rivals had to cover their noses and look away.

‘‘Ah! What in the world did you eat?!’’ Meowth said before coughing harshly. ‘‘Am I crying? My eyes are watering, aren’t they?’’

‘‘The Aromatisse species can do that,’’ Pikachu said to his temporal partner, also concealing on his own fur to get away from the fetid smell. ‘‘They can purposely smell like a delicate fragrance or stink like a thousand Koffing. But we can’t just let the smell distract us from— Wait, where did she go?’’

Pikachu spotted the Aromatisse next to Venomoth, already some distance away. They were facing against Serena’s Pokémon—which had finally gotten to their concussed trainer—in the middle of the aisle.

‘‘Hey!’’ Pikachu was about to run over there when he heard Meowth shout.

‘‘Pikachu, duck!’’

Following Meowth’s warning, Pikachu bent down and barely avoided the enemy Eelektross’ Dragon Tail.

‘‘Eelek!’’ the eel Pokémon exclaimed, backing away and glowering down as it floated in front of them.

‘‘This dude won’t leave us another choice.’’ Meowth extended his arms to give space for his retractable claws to come out. ‘‘I’d be lying if I said I’m not excited about this.’’

‘‘Don’t get cocky, kitten,’’ Pikachu said, smirking slightly when Meowth snarled at him in annoyance because of the nickname. He went serious again soon after. ‘‘I trust Braixen, Pancham and Sylveon to keep Serena safe in the meantime, but we still need to play this with a cool head. These guys seem fairly well trained and I don’t think they like to follow rules.’’ Pikachu landed on all fours as he glared back at Eelektross. ‘‘On my mark. One, two—’’

His count was interrupted by the Eelektross swinging at him again, this time using Aqua Tail. Pikachu leaped away in time, having predicted what it was going to do. Meowth remained immobile as he watched Pikachu with surprise, which means he didn’t realize that a new Aqua Tail was coming for him this time. The cat got hurled some feet backward, landing on his hind paws and grabbing at his stomach with a ‘Meowch.’

‘‘I told you these guys don’t play by the rules,’’ Pikachu said right before jumping into the air. He did a forward spin and, with the momentum, threw an Electro Ball at Eelektross. The attack hit, though the eel recovered quickly with a shake of its head.

‘‘You only caught me off guard because I was warming up,’’ Meowth said as an excuse while rejoining Pikachu’s side. ‘‘We’ll have no mercy this time.’’

‘‘Lektross, eel,’’ the Eelektross said.

‘‘Whoa, okay, no need to be so rude!’’ Meowth retorted.

Pikachu rolled his eyes before he dashed to the Eelektross with a Quick Attack. The eel Pokémon saw him coming and prepared a Focus Punch, waiting with needed concentration for the mouse’s arrival.

‘‘Hey you, snake wannabe!’’ Meowth shouted to try and make it lose its focus. Eelektross kept its eyes on Pikachu as he continued to rush around it. ‘‘How can you even float? That doesn’t make any sense! Oh, and I just realized that you literally have no weaknesses because you levitate. What was Arceus thinking when it made you?’’

Eelektross finally got fed up and snapped at Meowth. ‘‘Ee-ktross!’’

Pikachu smiled, already in the air. His tail became white as he began to spin to his target. Eelektross looked back at Pikachu and tried to hit him, but the recent distraction made it lose its focus and it missed. Pikachu’s Iron Tail landed on its back and sent it to the ground with a slam.

‘‘Hah. The ‘What was Arceus thinking’ bit always works. We should team up more often,’’ Meowth said with a grin when Pikachu settled back on the ground.

‘‘And who says you won’t just betray me after all of this is over?’’ Pikachu deadpanned.

‘‘Eh?! How dare you think I would ever betray y… Okay, stop looking at me like that, I get it. I still think that, if we weren’t lifelong enemies, we would make a great team.’’

Pikachu shrugged. ‘‘Can’t deny that.’’

Meowth was about to say something, but the next thing he knew, he was getting struck by a Thunderbolt.

‘‘H-hey! I thought we had made a truce!’’

‘‘It’s not me, you idiot!’’

‘‘Oh, true, this isn’t nearly as powerful as yours.’’ Meowth shrieked when Eelektross intensified its Thunderbolt. ‘‘Y-you Pokémon and your fragile ego!’’

Pikachu dashed toward the Eelektross again with a Quick Attack, making it stop its Thunderbolt, but wasn’t able to hit it this time as it backed away. Meowth’s fur was partially burnt after the electric shock, his hair standing on end as if he were made of static. He shook his head to push away the dizziness that always came after attacks like those.

‘‘You’re gonna pay for this!’’ the cat exclaimed, and he was the one moving forward this time. Eelektross wasn’t budging, even after it noticed he was approaching.

‘‘Meowth, wait!’’ Pikachu warned, but it came out tardy.

When Meowth got close enough, ready to use Fury Swipes, Eelektross finished preparing a Focus Punch. This time there wasn’t a distraction to prevent the move from hitting Meowth straight in the belly. It took the air out of his lungs as he crashed on a nearby rack.

Meowth breathed in as soon as he could and immediately coughed by the sudden intake of air. Try as he might, he couldn’t stand up. That move had been super-effective.

Pikachu was about to cry out for Meowth when he felt foreign electricity engulfing him. He looked back at the offending Eelektross and scoffed.

‘‘You call that a Thunderbolt? I’ll show you what a real Thunderbolt is like.’’ He slapped his cheeks and got on all fours. ‘‘Piiikaaa…chuuu!’’

Eelektross’ eyes widened when Pikachu’s electricity quickly pushed its own and whined when the current reached its body. Pikachu didn’t stay still for too long; still casting his Thunderbolt, he ran with Quick Attack toward his foe. Once he stopped his Thunderbolt, he prepared an Iron Tail before Eelektross could recover and sent it crashing against a wall. This time, it didn’t come back up. It had effectively fainted.

Pikachu realized he was panting when the adrenaline of the battle wore off. He had already been tired from the efforts he had made with Meowth to break their chains some minutes ago, and he was already feeling the beginning of exhaustion crawling on his body and dragging him down.

Meowth’s got it worse, though, he thought.

He was going to walk toward his weakened temporal partner when he heard a roar. He turned to find Clemont and his team, Luxray, Chespin and Bunnelby, fighting an Exploud. He needed to stay close to Meowth in case any other enemy tried to attack the cat again, but he could always give a little helping hand to his friends.

‘‘Luxray!’’ he called out to the lion-like Pokémon. ‘‘The Eelektross is down for the count, you can use your Electric Terrain freely!’’

After he received a confirming roar from Luxray and a thankful thumbs-up from Chespin, Pikachu ran back to stay with Meowth.

‘‘You okay?’’

Meowth huffed. ‘‘Just dandy.’’

‘‘You did a good job back there.’’

‘‘Yeah, that’s the least you can say after I saved your tail from that overpowered eel.’’

‘‘That’s what you’re gonna say to everyone who asks what happened today, isn’t it?’’

‘‘Yeah, and you can’t stop me.’’

‘‘Why am I not surprised? Come on, we can’t rest here forever.’’

‘‘Luxray, use Swift!’’

Following his trainer’s command, Luxray once again sent multiple stars from his tail toward the enemy Exploud—which, once again, destroyed them with an Echoed Voice.

For Arceus’ sake, Clemont complained mentally. This Exploud was as annoying as it was strong. Every time one of Clemont’s Pokémon tried to get close to it, Exploud would simply repel their moves with its own loud ones. Not even Bunnelby’s Dig had worked, since Exploud was able to detect where the bunny was thanks to its ability to sense sound waves and could move away from the dangerous spots accordingly. And what was even worse—the more Exploud used Echoed Voice, the stronger the move became the next time. They needed to find a way out fast so they could help their friends out. But how?

Think, Clemont, think.

Luxray roared in frustration, which Clemont could evidently understand and relate to. Not so soon after, they heard Pikachu shouting something from some yards away.

‘‘Pika pi!’’ he said. ‘‘Pikachu pi Pika, pika pi Pikachu pi!’’

Clemont didn’t understand a word, but whatever Pikachu had said seemed to have a good effect on his team. The three of his Pokémon looked at Pikachu with gratitude before they focused back on their fight. Before he could ask what that had been about, Luxray used Electric Terrain from where he was. The yellow, sparkling territory covered a space of approximately five meters. Luxray seemed to immediately rejoice as the sparks surrounded him.

‘‘Luxray!’’ Clemont exclaimed with slight panic, surprised by the decision his Pokémon had made by himself. ‘‘What are you doing? The enemy Eelektross could also benefit from this…!’’

‘‘Bun, bunby,’’ said Bunnelby to grab his attention. The bunny pointed to a wall and Clemont adjusted his glasses with a squint to see what it was. Lying against the dented wall was the fainted Eelektross.

So that’s what Pikachu said to us, Clemont realized. He nodded with resolution as he turned back to their current enemy. With Luxray’s powered-up Electric moves, we certainly have the upper hand. But we still need to get through that insufferable sound barrier. What to do…?

He felt someone tugging on his pants. This time, it was Chespin.

‘‘Chespin ches, ches—’’ The small hedgehog held out one of his paws and hit it with the other repeatedly, as if he were punching a wall. ‘‘—Pin, pin, pin!’’

‘‘You mean… just going in, all of you?’’

‘‘Chespin pin!’’ His Pokémon agreed with a nod.

Clemont frowned as he thought it over, and then his eyebrows rose.

‘’Of course! How didn’t I think of it before?’’ he mused. Sometimes, if strategy doesn’t work, simple brute force can do wonders. And not even that big Exploud should be able to stop three Pokémon attacking it from different angles. ‘‘Guys, please come here,’’ he said to his Pokémon.

Everyone complied and Clemont proceeded to tell them his plan. Exploud looked bored when he was done, while his Pokémon seemed satisfied and ready for action.

‘‘All right, let’s go!’’

Bunnelby used Dig once again. He approached the Exploud and circled around it, still underground. Exploud seemed to raise an eyebrow, as if to ask ‘This again?’ as it listened attentively to Bunnelby’s moves. Clemont nodded at Chespin and off the hedgehog went, dashing toward the Exploud and reaching out to it with Vine Whip. Exploud saw this and started to use Echoed Voice to keep Chespin away. Stealthily, Luxray positioned himself some feet away from Exploud’s uncovered side and sprinted over to the purple Pokémon.

Exploud noticed this and seemed to panic as he looked from Chespin to Luxray and then to the ground where Bunnelby was. It didn’t react on time to avoid Luxray’s Wild Charge—and neither Bunnelby’s other Wild Charge as he emerged from the ground. Badly injured by two Electric moves that had been powered by Electric Terrain, Exploud stumbled backward. At the same time, Luxray and Bunnelby backed away, also hurt from their attacks’ recoil damage. Chespin remained slightly closer to Exploud, ready to shoot Pin Missile at any second.

Exploud growled as it pushed past the pain. Then, it began to open its mouth.

Clemont wished he had understood what that meant sooner.

The sound that escaped Exploud’s mouth was so strident and jarring that he was surprised his ears didn’t immediately start bleeding from it. Everyone around covered their ears as best as they could. It was clear Exploud was producing the loudest Hyper Voice it was capable of. They were so shocked by it that no one was able to move to try and stop it. The sound reverberated so hard that the Electric Terrain that Luxray had created simply dissipated as if it had been a cloud of smoke.

Finally, after some seconds, the sound was over.

When Clemont and his Pokémon opened their eyes, ears still ringing from the vibration, they saw why Exploud had stopped. It was asleep on the ground.

Venomoth, completely fed up with its own teammate, had come all the way from the aisle to use Sleep Powder on it.

Seemingly pleased with what it had done, the moth Pokémon silently flew back to its own fight.

Clemont blinked.

He could understand why anyone, even its own allies, would want to silence someone like Exploud, but it was still a little weird. Why would Venomoth sabotage its teammate like that, and then leave it to the mercy of their enemies? That he couldn’t understand.

Chespin scoffed as he got closer to Exploud’s sleeping form, looking smug. He placed a paw under his eye and stuck out his tongue in a mocking way, like he was bragging about their victory.

Bunnelby stepped closer to Chespin and Exploud but remained a safe distance away. ‘‘Bunnelby, by,’’ he said, and Clemont could hear the warning tone in his voice. Chespin ignored him and walked in front of Exploud’s open mouth—it was snoring. He pointed at it, looking amused, and said something to his friends. Luxray simply shook his head and Bunnelby muttered something under his breath, exasperated with his teammate.

Everyone was so distracted that they didn’t notice the flames that had begun to build up inside Exploud’s mouth.

Chespin turned back to his sleeping foe, about to say a last triumphant sentence. ‘‘Ches—’’

The hedgehog was met with a Flamethrower to the face. He whined and tried to run away as fast as he could, but the damage had been done. He fell on the ground, fainting from the super-effective move.

Clemont, Luxray and Bunnelby could only gape at whatever had just happened.

‘‘What in the…?!’’ Clemont exclaimed before it hit him. ‘‘Wait… Bunnelby, get away from Exploud!’’

Bunnelby didn’t think twice before he obeyed his trainer and leaped out of the way, just in time to avoid another Flamethrower from Exploud.

‘‘That blasted thing knows Sleep Talk,’’ he explained to his Pokémon, his fists clenched at his sides. He was visibly upset; he couldn’t stand to see anyone hurting his poor Chespin in the way Exploud had just done. ‘‘That move allows it to use any of its other moves at random while asleep. Luxray,’’ he said, locking eyes with the electric lion, ‘‘we can’t leave it sleeping like that. It is a threat to anyone around it that it happens to sense with its sensitivity to sound waves. Go there and use Swift until we’re sure it faints, please.’’

Luxray nodded earnestly. With the silence and stealth worthy of a feline, he got close to the sleeping threat and raised his tail. One by one, stars shot from the tip of the tail and landed on Exploud. After the sixth star landed, Exploud growled lowly and the spirals in its eyes gave it away; it had finally fainted.

They collectively let out a breath. Clemont crouched next to Chespin and carefully took him in his arms.

‘‘I’m so sorry I didn’t protect you as I should’ve, Chespin,’’ he said. ‘‘I’ll get you to a Pokémon Center as soon as this is over. I promise.’’ He took out Chespin’s Poké Ball and activated it, recalling his defeated Pokémon inside.

He looked at his remaining two Pokémon. Luxray seemed to be okay for the most part, just slightly strained from the tiring fight. Bunnelby seemed worse for wear, however, as it had taken many Echoed Voices during the first minutes of the skirmish.

‘‘Are you guys sure you can continue?’’ he asked them. He wouldn’t forgive himself if he were to push his Pokémon too far when they didn’t feel well.

He was quickly answered by determined cries.

‘‘Bunnelby!’’

‘‘Rawrrr!’’

Clemont nodded. ‘‘All right. Let’s go check on Pikachu and then we’ll go to—’’

A sudden screech of pain coming from inside the aisle decided exactly where they were going first.

‘‘Guys, let’s go!’’

Braixen gripped her stick tighter, focusing on her enemies. She had lost count of how many times that cursed Venomoth had used Agility by now, and it was getting quite hard to keep track of its movements. Pancham had been throwing one Dark Pulse after the other to try and hit it, but everything he had managed to do was hit Aromatisse twice instead during that period. Not that those attacks did much to Aromatisse’s Fairy type, unfortunately.

Sylveon stayed alert to every move. Her feelers hadn’t let Serena’s wrist since they had arrived at her side. Braixen hated to see her trainer like that, so weak, so vulnerable, hurting this much. She knew Serena was doing her best to keep herself awake, but Braixen wasn’t sure if it wouldn’t be better for her to just sleep to get some rest.

Everything had seemed simpler when it was just the three of them against the Venomoth, but then the Aromatisse had come out of Arceus knows where to support her teammate.

The two Pokémon never wasted a chance to mock and make fun of Braixen and her friends the whole time.

The fox tried to keep her temper in check for the sake of her trainer. Serena always said that getting angry wouldn’t solve anything, and most of the time it would only make it worse—but it was getting more difficult with every second that went by.

If she could just send a big, powerful Fire Blast to shut them up…

But that could endanger everyone as it would inevitably start a fire in a very narrow space, doing more harm than good. She wouldn’t take such risks while Serena was in this state; she preferred exhausting herself with multiple Hidden Powers and Scratches if that kept their surroundings safe.

Pancham was cursing under his breath after missing yet another Dark Pulse when it happened.

An eardrum–breaking shriek passed through the air with the likes of a sonic boom. The resonance rattled boxes and shook racks. Braixen’s eyes fastened on Serena almost as soon as it began. The honey-blonde wasn’t able to resist such intrusive uproar; she passed out, her face wrinkling in a grimace and relaxing soon after. Distressed, Braixen looked back at her opponents, only to notice Venomoth had disappeared.

Soon after, the noise stopped.

This was their chance. Braixen grabbed Pancham and Sylveon’s attention with a whirl of her stick, and their shock dissipated to get replaced with resolve. Hidden Power, Stone Edge and Swift were thrown in sync toward the distracted Aromatisse, striking her cleanly.

To their surprise, Aromatisse got up swiftly and wiped her fur, red eyes squinting. ‘‘Aro, romatisse tisse?’’

Is that all you got?

Braixen and her partners fumed. She realized right there that she didn’t take kindly to Fairy types—with the exception of her best friend Sylveon, of course. However, no matter how much Aromatisse wanted to hide it, the attacks had taken a good chunk of her stamina. They just needed to be more forceful and they would be able to take her down. And they needed to act fast before Venomoth came back.

‘‘Braix!’’ she exclaimed, directing her friends. If Special Attacks weren’t effective, getting physical was required. They all understood.

Sylveon stayed with Serena while Braixen and Pancham charged toward Aromatisse. She dodged Braixen’s Scratch but couldn’t stop Pancham’s Arm Thrusts that came as four in a row. Braixen prepared another Scratch and was about to hit the tumbling Aromatisse when the moth came back. Venomoth used Acrobatics and struck Braixen’s leg, making the fox and the bear cub fall back at Sylveon’s side.

‘‘Sylve?’’ she asked with worry. Braixen reassured her. This little ache wasn’t the worst she had ever dealt with.

Braixen’s digits slid through her stick as she frowned at her adversaries. They needed to think of a real strategy or else they were going to lose and—

Pancham was charging toward Aromatisse again.

‘‘Braixen!’’

‘‘Syl?!’’

Braixen ran behind him as soon as she realized what her impulsive partner was up to, but she wasn’t able to stop him before Aromatisse hit him straight in the face with a Drain Punch. Pancham screeched as he stumbled backward. Braixen tried to grasp his arm but he didn’t allow her. He stood in front of his friends protectively and stared their opponents down.

Sylveon was telling him to stop being so reckless when Braixen learned what other attack Aromatisse had.

Glistening pink hearts surrounded the Fairy–type and she winked at Pancham.

Oh no, Braixen thought, everything but Attract—

The hearts rushed with impressive speed toward the bear cub, which was too slow to dodge them even if he tried.

When everyone thought Attract was going to hit Pancham, a brown shape jumped in front of him and received the attack instead.

They gasped.

‘‘Bunnelby!’’ Clemont exclaimed from some meters away, voice breathy from his run.

‘‘Pan?! Pancham cham!’’

Bunnelby seemed fine when he glanced at Pancham, but then he looked back at Aromatisse and he was done for. His eyes were literally hearts when Aromatisse beckoned him closer and he complied.

Sylveon was incredibly distressed. ‘‘Syl!’’ she called out to Bunnelby, one of her closest friends since she joined their group, the first Pokémon she learned to genuinely trust. ‘‘Sylveon, sylvee vee!’’

Please snap out of it!

‘‘Cham!’’ Pancham began to prepare a Dark Pulse to aid him.

It was too late.

Aromatisse and Venomoth smirked before they struck the bunny with their strongest attacks. Bunnelby didn’t defend himself from one single hit, stupefied by the effects of Attract. He fell on the floor with a thud.

Clemont’s eyes were shining, though he seemed as determined as ever. Two of his Pokémon had fallen but he wasn’t about to lose this battle. Even less if the enemy was going to play dirty like this. ‘‘Luxray, Swift!’’

While Clemont commanded his Luxray to try and hit Venomoth, Sylveon could only stare at Aromatisse and then back at Bunnelby on the floor. She looked up. Down. Up. Down.

Aromatisse wasn’t the slightest bit sorry for what she and her partner had done to Bunnelby.

Bunnelby, who only fell because he was protecting their friend.

Bunnelby, who would do it again in a heartbeat for anyone he cared about.

Sylveon wasn’t having any of this.

Her usually shy blue eyes went cold and fierce as she looked back up.

‘‘Luxray, dodge!’’ Clemont commanded when Aromatisse began to launch two jets of purple liquid at his Pokémon; she was using Toxic. Luxray didn’t have enough space to run away, but he didn’t need to. Sylveon jumped in front of him and used Protect just in time. ‘‘Sylveon! Thank you!’’

Sylveon nodded sharply before she raised her feelers and formed a circle with their tips, pointing straight at Aromatisse. The latter’s eyes widened exactly one second before Sylveon spread her feelers, releasing a powerful gust of sparkling white wind. It was so strong that Aromatisse couldn’t stay put and was pushed backward inch by inch. Venomoth dodged the wind by flying up and waiting for it to fade. Sylveon wasn’t about to wait, however, and she raced toward Aromatisse right after using Fairy Wind.

The Fragrance Pokémon predicted this so she got in a defensive stance. What she wasn’t expecting was to see multiple Sylveon surrounding her, some floating in the air and others moving on top of the racks. They all looked like they were dancing.

With the grace and elegance only a trained performer could have, every Sylveon twirled around and threw dazzling stars from their bodies. Aromatisse could only cover herself from the sudden onslaught that, quite literally, made her see stars.

The real stars hit Aromatisse from behind, making her lose her balance. Next, the Fairy Wind surrounded Aromatisse and twirled her high in the air before slamming her hard against the ground.

Once the wind cleared up, there was only one Sylveon standing in the middle of the aisle. She linked one feeler protectively around her trainer’s wrist as everyone gasped with surprise at the defeated Aromatisse across from them. Sylveon used her other feelers to envelop Bunnelby’s injured body and keep it next to her, almost like she was pulling a blanket over her friend.

Braixen and Pancham stared at her in shock before giving her a wavering smile. She had grown so much. Clemont walked closer to her, eyes full of emotion.

‘‘Thank you, Sylveon. I’m so proud of you, and I know Bunnelby will be too, once he wakes up.’’

Sylveon nodded again, this time softer, but then jerked her head to the roof to remind them that there was still an opponent to defeat.

Venomoth flew back down from the ceiling, fuming at them now that it was alone once again.

‘‘Pancham,’’ the bear cub said, adjusting his sunglasses and scowling at the Moth Pokémon. He took a step forward.

You’re next.

They didn’t know a moth was capable of snickering until they heard the unmistakable sound of a laugh coming from Venomoth. The next time they blinked, it was nowhere to be seen.

‘‘What… Where did it go?’’ Clemont whispered to himself.

Sylveon and Braixen inched closer to Serena with apprehension. Luxray growled as his tail moved, curling and uncurling behind him.

When Pancham screeched, everyone turned at him.

‘‘Braix?’’

Pancham rubbed his arm with a wince. ‘‘Cham.’’ He had been hit and he hadn’t even seen it.

‘‘No…’’ Clemont said. ‘‘How long has it been using Agility to increase its speed?’’

Serena’s Pokémon shared a resigned glance.

‘‘This can’t be good.’’

‘‘Cham!’’ Another screech.

He had been hit again.

‘‘Braixen!’’ The fox stood closer to Pancham and lit up the tip of her wand. She wasn’t going to let Venomoth hurt her friend with no retaliation. Pancham shrank on himself and looked around frantically.

Luxray glanced at Sylveon and noticed she seemed tired. ‘‘Lux…’’ He then saw the green powder that was falling on her. And he saw Venomoth winking at him before flying out of his sight. He growled again. ‘‘Luxray!!’’

‘‘What is it?!’’ Clemont asked as everyone turned at Sylveon. He looked tired too all of a sudden, but for a different reason. He was starting to hate that move so much. ‘‘Oh, for Arceus’ sake…’’

‘‘Braix?!’’

‘‘Cham-pam!’’

‘‘Syl… vee vee.’’ She slowly settled on the ground next to Serena and Bunnelby, closing her eyes.

‘‘Dang it…’’ Clemont said under his breath. He didn’t have any Awakening spray or Chesto Berries to wake her up immediately. They were down to Luxray, Braixen and Pancham. Not to mention that Satoshi and his Pokémon were probably fighting The Kecleon’s strongest Pokémon elsewhere.

‘‘Pikachu, go slower, this floor isn’t being kind to my belly.’’

‘‘Lay off the human food a little, Meowth. You’re so heavy.’’

They turned to the sound of two voices well known to them. Pikachu was walking on his four paws into the aisle. Meowth was holding onto the mouse’s tail, effectively letting himself be dragged on the floor.

‘‘And I’m pretty sure you can walk by now, you lazy little— Ah, guys!’’

‘‘Braix!’’

‘‘Rawr.’’

‘‘Pam pam.’’

‘‘Pikachu, Meowth! Are you guys okay?!’’

Meowth tilted his head on the ground to look at Clemont. ‘‘Yeah, yeah, we’re fine. I’m in this state because I had to save Pikachu all by myself, you can thank me later.’’

Pikachu didn’t even spare him a glance. He directed his attention to his friends. ‘‘What’s the situation?’’

Luxray briefly explained everything that had happened, making emphasis on the Pokémon that were out of commission and the current threat with wings that was still looming around. During that time, Clemont got deep in thought about the last part.

‘‘We need to battle speed with speed,’’ he said once Luxray was done with his explanation. ‘‘Luxray may come close to Venomoth’s speed but it might be difficult for him to actually reach it. Pikachu could maybe do it as he’s smaller and could use the racks to his advantage to get leverage. However, as I can see, Pikachu’s still worn out from his last battle.’’

Pikachu hummed in response. His eyes were locked on Serena’s sleeping form as he frowned. ‘‘I wasn’t able to protect her as I could’ve. I’ll fight till the end. It doesn’t matter how battered I am.’’

Clemont could tell that Pikachu was determined, though he couldn’t exactly figure out what he was saying. He glanced at Meowth almost as a reflex, knowing the cat was the only (conscious) individual that could translate it for him, but thought better of it. They couldn’t waste time in semantics right now—

Pancham’s glasses fell on the floor. The bear cub rubbed the back of his head furiously. ‘‘Cham!’’

Clemont’s eyes zeroed on the spot Pancham was rubbing. There were two small dots over the white fur, one next to the other. It was Venomoth again, and it was most likely using Leech Life, judging by the fact that it had bitten Pancham.

Leech Life would normally not be effective against a Fighter–type Pokémon like Pancham and continuing to use Acrobatics would make more sense, but Clemont had learned that these Pokémon knew how to use their potential to the fullest. He racked his brain to remember what abilities Venomoth could possibly have, and it hit him.

The ability Tinted Lens worked almost like a Trick Room of sorts, in the way that it completely dismissed the usual type rules. Bug–type moves aren’t effective against Fighter–type Pokémon. However, if the Pokémon that uses the Bug–type moves has the ability Tinted Lens, the moves will deal double the damage. Plus, Venomoth would be able to heal itself thanks to the secondary effect of Leech Life.

The summary of all this would be — They needed to act as fast as possible for Pancham’s sake!

‘‘Everyone, please protect Pancham!’’

Braixen and Luxray did their best to shield Pancham with their bodies. Pikachu and Meowth remained close by, the former ready to use Quick Attack if he found any suitable opening.

Venomoth seemed to understand what they were doing and decided to form its own opening. It used Leech Life on Braixen this time, taking everyone off guard, before biting Pancham once again while they were startled. It was just playing with them at this point.

Pikachu clenched his teeth. He was about to climb on the racks to at least try and do something when he saw something flying close to the roof. Or, more than something, a certain someone that was more than able to match Venomoth’s speed.

Talonflame flew over the aisle in silence, its long and sharp wings moving up and down with prolonged flaps. The Scorching Pokémon made eye contact with Pikachu and nodded stoutly. Pikachu nodded back. After a blink, Talonflame was nowhere to be seen.

No one else had noticed Talonflame, and Pikachu hoped Venomoth hadn’t been the exception.

‘‘We can’t keep this up,’’ Clemont said, and Pikachu could see he was in his deep-thinking stage. ‘‘Maybe, if all of us keep moving too… No, that wouldn’t change anything and would only exhaust us more…’’

Pikachu wanted to tell him that it was okay, but doing so would blow up their cover, so he just limited himself to see what was about to unfold.

Another screech was heard, which meant Venomoth had bitten Pancham again. This time, however, a big red silhouette zoomed right behind Venomoth’s smaller purple form now that it was visible. The two forms dashed through the air all around the aisle. It was a chase.

‘‘What the…’’ Meowth said.

Pikachu allowed himself to smirk when the red form enveloped itself with fire. Talonflame was using Flame Charge; it was quickly gaining the speed it needed and was closing the gap. When a loud squeak resonated in the aisle, Pikachu knew Talonflame had succeeded.

Venomoth crashed against a rack with all the momentum it had gained before. That, alongside the effectiveness of the Fire–type move, was enough to one-shot the Moth Pokémon, which everyone could see fainting seconds later.

Talonflame landed on the ground and threw a last glance at the defeated moth before addressing its friends. ‘‘Flame.’’

Everyone but Pikachu blinked at it with surprise.

‘‘Ta… Talonflame!’’ Clemont exclaimed. ‘‘You were so amazing! I should’ve realized it was you sooner, but that speed was just out of this world! Thank you very much for your help.’’

Meowth quietly gulped, finally standing up. ‘‘I probably shouldn’t mess with that one,’’ he whispered to himself.

Talonflame chirped affirmatively. Its gaze darkened when it saw Serena, Sylveon and Bunnelby unconscious on the ground. Pancham was sitting down, looking almost ready to sleep with the rest of his friends. The numerous attacks had taken their toll on him.

‘‘Pancham, you should stay here,’’ Pikachu said. When Pancham protested, the mouse shook his head. ‘‘You’re too weak to contribute to a fight right now, and it would be better if you stayed to guard them as we…’’ He remembered something and almost slapped himself for not remembering sooner. He whirled toward Talonflame. ‘‘How’s Satoshi holding up?!’’

Talonflame’s gaze darkened even more. It told Pikachu and the others a quick summary of what was happening as Meowth translated the key details for Clemont. Satoshi and his Pokémon had been fighting The Kecleon’s Aegislash and Hydreigon this whole time, as everyone had thought. Hawlucha had fallen to Hydreigon’s Tri Attack not so soon after the battle had begun when he’d stepped in front of Noivern to protect it. Talonflame explained that they had been able to hear many attacks from skirmishes happening around them—more than anything that piercing scream courtesy of Exploud—but weren’t able to leave and check on the others. It was only after Greninja managed to entertain their opponents that Satoshi commanded Talonflame to go and make sure everyone was okay.

When the topic changed to Satoshi and Greninja, Talonflame frowned. Pikachu could already tell what must be happening.

Satoshi is almost running on adrenaline alone, were Talonflame’s words. His bond with Greninja being active for so long was becoming incredibly dangerous, but every time one of his Pokémon asked him to stop it, he bluntly said no. Greninja was doing his best the whole time to give him strength through the bond itself, and that was the only thing other than adrenaline that was keeping Satoshi on his feet. Talonflame feared Satoshi might reach a point of no return if they didn’t come to his aid soon. Besides, Serena needed to be taken to a hospital and, in order to do that safely, they had to defeat The Kecleon.

They didn’t need to hear anything else. Everyone rushed out of the aisle, following Talonflame’s lead. The only one who remained was Pancham, who had listened to Pikachu’s words and knew it was for the best. He would protect his friends till the end. He picked his glasses from the ground and placed them on Serena’s eyes; that way he could pretend she was just sleeping like any other night they’ve spent together and was not heavily concussed like right now.

Sitting next to his friends, he kept his dark eyes locked on the unconscious Venomoth, just daring it to open its eyes back up.

This wasn’t good.

Greninja was tired, Noivern was spacing out from exhaustion and Talonflame hadn’t come back yet. Were the others okay?

After Satoshi had finally made an opening with Greninja to let Talonflame go and check on the others, Greninja received a rather nasty hit from Aegislash. And did that one hurt. Satoshi was still holding onto his forearm from that blow. But pain was the least of his concerns now.

Aegislash could protect Hydreigon and itself with King’s Shield all it wanted; everyone could notice how weaker its defense was becoming. The Kecleon and his Pokémon had been taking on a two vs. three battle for a long time now and the effects were showing on everyone present.

And speaking of The Kecleon.

Satoshi wasn’t usually a vengeful person. His soul valued justice more than anything, but he usually left karma (and authorities) take care of bad people who wronged others just for the sake of it. However, in this case, it wasn’t so easy. This guy wasn’t Team Rocket and their almost daily schemes to get his Pikachu. Yes, they had kidnapped Pokémon and even some people before, but no one had been as devious and vicious as this guy was all by himself. Even his Pokémon were expertly trained to do evil. Satoshi could see it in their eyes.

Even then, Satoshi wasn’t sure what angered him the most about this guy. The obvious reason was out there: The Kecleon had wronged everyone for his own desires, and he had to pay.

But that wasn’t entirely it.

He wanted to steal Pikachu.

Well, Satoshi was more than used to people wanting to steal his best friend. Read: Team Rocket. That fact will always annoy him and he will always act to protect Pikachu, so he was easily able to recognize that wasn’t what angered him the most.

He kidnapped Serena.

It wasn’t the first time Serena had gotten kidnapped, he reasoned.

But it is the first time she’s got directly hurt because of it.

And that was it.

Satoshi finally had the revelation.

Seeing Serena on the ground, not even able to stand up because of how much she was hurting, all of this because The Kecleon didn’t want her to escape and didn’t even care about the consequences his actions could have for Serena…

He had his answer.

Not like he needed one to make this guy pay.

‘‘Aren’t you getting tired of this?’’ The Kecleon spoke from the other side of the unofficial battlefield. During the battle, his reflexes and commands were enough to measure up with those of Satoshi. The main difference was his intent. Every command he issued, every word that carried his voice, every motion he did were full of nothing but contempt. Like he would do anything to get what he wanted, screw everyone else and what they were feeling. Satoshi hadn’t needed any confirmation of this after first arriving at the warehouse and seeing Serena, but he still got the vibe more than enough with their fight. ‘‘You can scowl at me all you want, kid. The result will be the same.’’

‘‘The result,’’ Satoshi repeated, pretending to think about it deeply. ‘‘Hmm, yes. I see the result. My friends and I will continue with our lives and be happy while you spend the rest of your life in a cell. I’m glad you finally see things my way.’’

‘‘Where is all this sass coming from, I wonder? Not really threatening coming from someone that’s breathing as irregularly as you. You sure you’re okay?’’

Satoshi ignored another concerned look from his Pokémon and kept his eyes locked with The Kecleon’s obscure ones. ‘‘I will be once I defeat you. Greninja—’’

‘‘Satoshi!’’

The raven-haired turned to the voice of a young inventor very dear to him. Clemont. The blond came to the backside of the warehouse and supported his hands on his legs, panting. Right before him, Talonflame chirped to announce their arrival, and right after came the rest of the Pokémon. Satoshi was immediately relieved to see Pikachu was okay. (He decided to also ignore the worry in Pikachu’s face.)

Besides his best friend, there was Meowth, Braixen and Luxray.

Meowth, Braixen and Luxray…

Braixen.

Braixen was here.

Where was her trainer?

Satoshi had only been able to hear some of the things that had been happening inside the aisles, but he didn’t know anything concrete. Seeing the person and Pokémon that were still standing was the direct confirmation that, for once in their lives since they began to travel together, if he were to call out to her…

She wouldn’t be able to hear his voice.

‘‘Where’s Serena?’’ were the first words that came out of his mouth; the first words he could formulate. The summary of the thousands of thoughts, every new possibility worse than the previous one, that his mind was providing to make sense of where and how she was.

Clemont locked eyes with him and his brows furrowed. That wasn’t a good sign either. ‘‘Satoshi—’’

‘‘Pika!’’ his best friend warned.

Satoshi had lowered his guard. A mistake. Greninja had lowered his guard too, as he felt similar conflicting feelings as his trainer. The second mistake. When both of them turned, Hydreigon was already too close to Greninja, Fire Fang in full display.

The only one that didn’t seem to be distracted was Luxray… as he rushed in front of Greninja to take the Fire Fang head-on, countering as he could with his own Thunder Fang.

The two attacks clashed, but Hydreigon quickly got the upper hand as Luxray’s power weakened. The lion was sent many feet back and crashed on a rack, the inertia being so strong that the rack collapsed from the hit.

That rack happened to be part of the aisle everyone had been in some minutes ago. When it fell, it revealed the unconscious form of a person and two Pokémon, plus the conscious form of Pancham. A fainted Venomoth was resting on the other rack that hadn’t been hit.

Serena.

If the rack had fallen to the other side, it would have crushed everyone next to it.

Which of course included her.

‘‘Luxray!’’ Clemont cried out before the word could even manifest in his mind. Pancham was looking back at them with wide eyes from the now awkwardly opened aisle.

Pikachu knew exactly what Satoshi was looking at. Pikachu also knew this wasn’t the moment to get distracted.

‘‘Pika–pi,’’ he said, calling out to Satoshi. ‘‘Pika-cha pikachu pika pika pi!’’

Satoshi forcefully tore his gaze away from Serena to look at Pikachu. His eyes were asking a million questions, though he knew that Pikachu was right. If they wanted to help Serena and the others, they had to take care of The Kecleon first—

‘‘Night Slash until you hit, Aegislash!’’

A light-purple sword slashed the air next to Noivern, who barely had time to react and fly away. Everyone stood on alert and dodged the multiple strikes, which were aiming at both the Pokémon and the trainers present.

‘‘Greninja, Water Shuriken! Pikachu, Thunderbolt!’’ His Pokémon complied and sent their attacks. The Aegislash protected itself just in time with King’s Shield. Satoshi stopped mimicking Greninja’s Water Shuriken as the attack ended and had to shift his footing to remind stable. He scowled at The Kecleon. ‘‘You won’t defeat us with continuous attacks like that!’’

‘‘I know,’’ was The Kecleon’s simple answer.

No one had noticed the Hydreigon getting closer to the open aisle.

The only defense Pancham could send was his Dark Pulse, but Hydreigon’s Tri Attack countered it, getting past it and into Pancham. The bear cub was unable to contribute anything else to the battle; he lay close to his friends on the floor, fainted.

Not even a blink later, Hydreigon sent yet another Tri Attack at the same location. Now that Pancham wasn’t in the way, it was going straight toward Serena.

Satoshi’s insides screamed and everything else happened in slow motion.

In one moment, Hydreigon was preparing its Tri Attack.

In the next one, Braixen’s figure appeared in front of her unconscious trainer and friends, counterattacking with a Flamethrower. The prolonged attacks met in the middle and a battle of power began.

Braixen kept the attack going with all the strength she could muster, but not so soon after, she had to change her weight to one of her legs as the other had been damaged not so long ago. This weakened her and her Flamethrower wasn’t holding back Tri Attack as it had done before. Hydreigon was now duplicating its power and pushing its way through Braixen’s defense, about to reach her. Braixen closed her eyes and continued doing her best, waiting for the inevitable hit.

Satoshi didn’t remember when he had started running.

Greninja didn’t know when he had either. He stepped in front of Braixen right before her defense broke down, preparing a Water Shuriken, launching it like a boomerang toward Hydreigon… and also getting hit by the whole power of the Tri Attack soon after.

The attack sent Greninja spiraling to the ground. Braixen watched in horror as the ninja painfully tried to stand up and could only get on his knees. Satoshi had felt everything as well. He had completely paused his run right after the hit and was staring at Serena’s general direction with lost eyes.

The Satoshi–Greninja synchronization ceased. As if on cue, their bodies gave up and trainer and Pokémon passed out.

Satoshi! Clemont screamed, but this time, it was in his mind. Satoshi was out of commission. Everything and everyone depended on him. He couldn’t get careless.

A quick glance at The Kecleon’s pleased expression was enough to tell he was distracted. Clemont’s eyes fastened on the Hydreigon, who was still dizzy after Greninja’s Water Shuriken.

He clenched his fist and adjusted his glasses.

As silently as he could, he tapped all of the Pokémon around him to grab their attention; Pikachu, Meowth, Talonflame, Noivern. Everyone looked at him and seemed to realize the same thing at once.

Clemont was giving the orders now.

They nodded.

Clemont pointed at Hydreigon and his glasses shone ominously, hiding his eyes.

Give it all you’ve got, he was saying.

Pikachu’s Thunderbolt surprised Hydreigon enough for Meowth to Scratch it in its three faces. Talonflame hit him with a swift Flame Charge and Noivern managed to get in a Dragon Claw; this last attack almost made the Brutal Pokémon collapse right there. Braixen had taken the hint soon after the storm of attacks had begun and launched her best Flamethrower.

She wasn’t able to hit it because Aegislash protected Hydreigon with King’s Shield, but the damage had been done.

The Kecleon clearly wasn’t looking as cocky as before.

The attacking Pokémon stepped in front of Clemont, ready to attack again. Now no one was taking their eyes off their two opponents; no more playing around.

Hydreigon wasn’t looking too good, although Clemont knew not to underestimate his enemy. The Pokémon knew the same thing.

After some tense seconds passed, The Kecleon wordlessly motioned to his Hydreigon. Both of his Pokémon seemed surprised at whatever he was indicating, like this action was something they only used in an emergency. Their trainer nodded with a sharp frown that left no room for debate.

‘‘Why do I feel this isn’t good,’’ Meowth muttered under his breath.

‘‘All of you, please be careful,’’ Clemont warned.

And then, the quiet stopped. Hydreigon’s three heads looked up at the ceiling. Three spheres of orange energy grew on its mouths and it fired them into the sky in quick succession.

Clemont gasped. ‘‘Everyone, take cover!’’

The spheres exploded high in the air and rained down everywhere in the form of meteors. Some of them went higher than they were supposed to, crashing against the ceiling and causing debris to fall down as well. Many meteors also divided into more meteors halfway through their fall, causing more destruction. This was the strongest Draco Meteor that Clemont had ever seen.

Braixen, upon realizing what this meant, rushed to her unconscious trainer. Pikachu noticed it too and ran to Satoshi. Meowth yelped and barely avoided one of the meteors to go to Greninja’s side. Talonflame maneuvered in the air, using its speed to avoid the meteors. Its stamina wouldn’t last for too long, though. Noivern was flying under the same conditions.

Clemont protected himself with his Aipom Arm. He recalled Bunnelby and Luxray to their Poké Balls once he was close enough and commanded Braixen to do the same with Serena’s other Pokémon. The fox nodded and took the Poké Balls from Serena’s pocket, using them to recall Pancham and Sylveon. In her brief distraction she was hit by one of the falling meteors on her good leg and had to take on a defensive sitting position next to Serena, sending one Hidden Power after the other to destroy oncoming meteors. Clemont noted that Hawlucha was nowhere to be seen, which meant Satoshi had recalled him right after he had fainted.

Pikachu made use of his Iron Tail to keep Satoshi safe. He could see The Kecleon and his Pokémon also protecting themselves from the meteor shower some yards away. They were walking back, as if they were… retreating?!

‘‘Don’t you dare walk away from us!’’ Pikachu shouted loud enough so everyone around could hear him over the sounds of meteors and debris falling. Everyone else realized what he had meant, but no one could do much to stop their enemies since the meteor rain was still in full force.

However, luck seemed to be on their side for once when some known voices were heard from the entrance of the warehouse.

‘‘Gourgeist, prepare to start Operation Wobbuffet Coat!’’

‘‘Inkay, back the twerps up!’’

Inkay zoomed through the air and quickly threw Psybeams at any meteors and debris that fell close to anyone from the gang.

Jessie and James were running deeper into the building through one of the aisles, covering themselves from the danger with special equipment.

‘‘Team Rocket?’’ Clemont said, shocked to actually see them there.

‘‘Jessie! James!’’ Meowth exclaimed with happiness. He narrowly cut through a meteor that was getting too close to Greninja. ‘‘I knew you’d be back!’’

‘‘Yeah, we promised, remember?’’ James said, almost matter-of-factly. Meowth’s eyes watered melodramatically.

‘‘Besides, we already called dibs on Pikachu. Anyone else who tries to capture him must deal with us too,’’ Jessie said. She pointed at The Kecleon, who also looked quite shocked to see them. ‘‘We have unfinished business with you, impostor twerp. Now, Gourgeist!’’

The Pumpkin Pokémon appeared in the air, holding Wobbuffet above her head. The way Gourgeist was flying made it seem like she was purposefully trying to make Wobbuffet catch meteors, and that was when Clemont realized what the plan was. Wobbuffet was casting Mirror Coat, which meant he was in the process of absorbing the meteors to reflect the damage later.

‘‘Wobbah!’’ he exclaimed soon after. He had reached his capacity.

‘‘Get ready, Wobbuffet!’’ James said, pointing at Hydreigon. This prompted Gourgeist to move around until Wobbuffet had a good aim of his objective.

Clemont wasn’t going to be fooled once again. He predicted Aegislash was going to move to protect Hydreigon, and that he couldn’t allow.

‘‘Noivern, please use Acrobatics against Aegislash! Don’t let it move toward Hydreigon!’’

Noivern’s ears perked up as he heard the command. He obeyed by swiftly flying toward Aegislash and interrupting its course of action. Aegislash defended itself, but it wasn’t the important target at the moment.

The Kecleon caught on this. ‘‘Aegislash! Try to shake it off!’’

‘‘Too late,’’ Jessie said with a smirk. ‘‘Wobbuffet, Mirror Coat!’’

‘‘Wooobbuuuuffeeeet!’’

Now that he knew Mirror Coat would hit, and now that the rain was almost over, Clemont was ready to help finish Hydreigon off.

‘‘Pikachu, Thunderbolt! Talonflame, Steel Wing! Braixen, Hidden Power!’’ he commanded, and everyone moved to comply.

‘‘And what about me?!’’ Meowth asked from his spot. Jessie and James raised an eyebrow at him. ‘‘Um, I mean, it’s not like I would obey his command anyway since I’m an independent Pokémon, but you know, it’s kinda rude that he’s directing everyone but me when I’ve been here too, and…’’

‘‘Use Scratch if you want to be useful!’’ they both shouted at him. Meowth recoiled.

‘‘Ahh! You know what? I think the rest got it already! Let’s go, everyone!’’

No one paid any attention to Team Rocket’s exchange. The three Pokémon obeyed Clemont’s command and sent their moves toward Hydreigon as Noivern kept obstructing Aegislash.

The first move to hit was Wobbuffet’s powered-up Mirror Coat, followed by Steel Wing, Thunderbolt and Hidden Power. Everyone covered their faces from the big cloud of smoke that came after.

Hydreigon’s fainted form was the first thing they distinguished once the smoke cleared up. Everyone had their own silent celebration. Only one left to go.

Well, everyone was silent except Team Rocket, that is.

‘‘Let’s go! That’s how we do it in Team R!’’ Jessie said, laughing cockily.

‘‘We come in and save the day just like that,’’ James continued. ‘‘Aren’t we the best Deus Ex Machina?’’

‘‘Guys, I wouldn’t get too excited yet,’’ Meowth said, surprising both of them. He had lived things today.

‘‘He’s right,’’ Clemont said, frowning at The Kecleon before raising his voice to address him. ‘‘You’re heavily outnumbered; it’s time for you to give up. All of this damage and destruction is futile and it causes more harm than good to everyone.’’

The Kecleon scoffed at him. ‘‘Like hell I’m letting myself get caught. Aegislash, Omega Formation.’’

Aegislash nodded slowly at the command, but seemed chagrined when it looked at its opponents.

Suddenly, the Royal Sword Pokémon began to launch powerful attacks as if it had been possessed.

Both Gourgeist and Inkay were hit by Shadow Balls and recoiled for some seconds. Then, Aegislash’s blade began to glow light blue as it tried to hit anyone who got close with Sacred Sword. Its opponents dodged the attacks and prepared to retaliate.

‘‘Surround and attack it from all different sides! Its shield can’t protect it from every angle!’’ Clemont commanded, and the Pokémon complied, this time including Meowth, Gourgeist and Inkay.

Soon after, Aegislash was defeated. It felt on the ground with a faint. It was the most gratifying sound Pikachu had heard in a long time.

The next most gratifying sound he could hear was going to be The Kecleon begging him not to use Thunderbolt on him, but when Pikachu looked around for him… he was nowhere to be seen.

Suddenly, different sounds no one expected came from outside the warehouse. Police sirens.

‘‘Well, I guess it’s time for us to go. You’re welcome, by the way,’’ Meowth spoke up, walking close to Jessie and James and guiding them to an exit. They looked at Meowth as if he was crazy. He had been by Pikachu’s side less than five seconds ago, and he’d had the perfect opportunity to capture him. ‘‘What? I’m just letting him off the hook for today, ‘kay? Getting Pikachu right now would be almost too easy.’’

Pikachu smiled at him. Sometimes, Meowth wasn’t too bad. ‘‘Thank you for your help, Meowth.’’

The cat smirked. ‘‘Don’t get all friendly with me here. I’m taking pity on you ‘cause I had to save your sorry tail all day, that’s all. We’ll capture you and send you to our boss most probably around next week.’’

So much for him not being too bad.

Pikachu sighed and shook his head. ‘‘Just shut up and go, Meowth.’’

‘‘You gotta admit I was incredible today. You saw how I protected Grenin—’’

‘‘Shut up and go unless you want me to use my remaining energy to send you blasting off. I mean it.’’ Some electricity danced around Pikachu’s cheeks to seal his warning.

‘‘Haha, yeah, no thanks. It’s time for us to go, guys!’’

The Kecleon ran to the backdoor of the warehouse as soon as Aegislash began Omega Formation—the last option he had prepared in case he needed to escape. It was as easy as distracting everyone with his Pokémon so he could get out. And, as predicted, it had worked.

Yeah, maybe he had underestimated that brat and his friends, and maybe he had been defeated for the first time since he had started his villainous streak, but he wasn’t done yet. He would stay hidden for now, keeping a low profile until he caught more powerful Pokémon and could continue his crimes once again. That would also be easy thanks to his ability to camouflage himself among innocent people.

He would be back.

Or that’s what he thought.

When he exited the warehouse through the backdoor, he was met by a Pokémon he had never seen before. It looked like a black and green canine with white eyes and it had a red hexagon on its chest. It looked strong. He would be interested in catching it if it wasn’t growling at him right now.

Next to the strange Pokémon, there was a little girl with blond hair and blue eyes frowning at him. Inside her bag, a Dedenne wore a similar expression. He recognized her. This was the younger sister of that obnoxious blond inventor who was still inside the warehouse.

And, well, neither she nor the Pokémon looked happy.

‘‘Where do you think you’re going?’’ the little girl asked, crossing her arms and raising a challenging eyebrow at him.

He thought about his options. He was still dressed as this girl’s raven-haired friend, and she hadn’t seen what had happened inside, so he could play this off. He smiled innocently.

‘‘Hey, I’m glad to see you’re safe! The impostor is inside; we finally defeated him and his Pokémon. Why don’t you go back inside? Your brother is worried about you—’’

The little girl stamped her foot so loudly that it surprised even him. ‘‘You’re NOT Satoshi!’’ she exclaimed, pointing at him. She was livid. ‘‘Don’t you dare pretend you’re Satoshi when you’re the complete opposite of him! Satoshi is our friend, and he’s kind, strong, and a very good person! You’re a villain and you do bad things for your own twisted enjoyment! The police will arrive at any moment and you’re not going anywhere.’’

He was getting impatient. This little brat wasn’t about to let him go, but he also wasn’t planning to stay here any longer. ‘‘I’m not the impostor. As I said, he’s inside; you can check if you want. I’ll just go around the building so I can meet with the police, since you said they’re about to arrive, yeah? Now go back with your brother and let me—’’

‘‘Squishy!’’

As the blonde girl said the word, the dog-like Pokémon jumped right in front of him and narrowed its sharp eyes. The Dedenne climbed on the girl’s head and tried to appear threatening by releasing some electricity from its cheeks.

‘‘I said that you’re not going anywhere,’’ she repeated. ‘‘And if you mention my bro one more time, you’re gonna get a Nuzzle from my Dedenne. Believe me, it doesn’t feel good.’’

‘‘Denne–ne!’’

He frowned. This girl seemed to be keen on defending everyone’s honor or something. Such a useless thing to do.

Before he could answer anything else to maneuver his way out, he heard his least favorite sound.

Police sirens.

‘‘Is everyone okay?!’’

‘‘Pikachu pi!’’

‘‘Officer Jenny! Over here!’’

‘‘What’s the situation?’’

‘‘There are two unconscious people; they’re my friends. I believe Serena has a concussion so she should be taken to a hospital right away. Satoshi fainted from exhaustion after he took multiple attacks, therefore his condition isn’t good either.’’

‘‘Understood. I’ll send my team to help them right away. Squad A and C, we need assistance over here. Two unconscious teens with delicate conditions need to be taken to the hospital now! All right. Clemont, anyone else? Any injured Pokémon?’’

‘‘All of our Pokémon did what they could in battle and I wasn’t able to witness all of them, so I would like to be safe and get them to a Pokémon Center immediately.’’

‘‘That’s the wisest decision. We’ll get going in a second. Now, where’s the criminal?’’

‘‘Pika pika…’’

‘‘He… disappeared. He must’ve escaped through the backdoor. Wait… Officer, did you happen to see my little sister before coming in?! A girl with blond hair and blue—’’

‘‘CLEMONT!’’

‘‘EUREKA!’’

‘‘Bro, you had me so worried!’’

‘‘I’m so happy to see you’re safe. Squishy and Dedenne protected you from everything, right?’’

‘‘Of course! By the way, I have good news. Squishy, bring him here!’’

‘‘Oh! Amazing job, Eureka!’’

‘‘Is that… The Kecleon?’’

‘‘That’s correct, ma’am.’’

‘‘Damn it.’’

‘‘You have the right to remain silent, criminal. Kids, get quickly to the cars outside so you can be taken to the city. Squad B, I have the criminal on sight, I repeat, the criminal’s on sight, come here now!’’

‘‘Clemont…’’

‘‘Yes, Eureka?’’

‘‘Where are Satoshi and Serena?’’

‘‘I saw some officers take Serena on a stretcher. Braixen went with them. And Satoshi is…’’

‘‘Satoshi! Is he okay?! Satoshi, can you hear me?!’’

‘‘He may be able to, but he can’t answer now. We’re all going to get better now, including the Pokémon, okay? I promise.’’

‘‘O…okay…’’

‘‘Where’s the young boy that needs assistance?’’

‘‘He’s right here, sir!’’

‘‘Pika pikachu!’’

‘‘Please make sure to keep him safe, Pikachu. Come on, Eureka, let’s go too.’’

‘‘W-wait, where’s Greninja?’’

‘‘Here; I recalled him into his Poké Ball. I also have Serena’s Poké Balls here. Come on, the sooner we get out of this place, the better!’’

‘‘I’m right behind you, Clemont! Whoa, I never thought I’d say that. You’re running so fast— Are you sure you’re okay, bro?!’’

Chapter Text

Beep. Beep. Beep.

The only sound he could hear.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

When he opened his eyes, he had to squint right away, adjusting to the lighting. The white ceiling looked back at him, almost as if welcoming him back into the world of the conscious.

Satoshi felt his hair with his hand, quickly noticing he wasn’t wearing his hat. Lowering his gaze, he discovered he wasn’t even wearing his normal clothes. He recognized what he had on to be a hospital gown.

He was in a hospital?

He looked around. The blinds over the window didn’t allow him to see outside. To his right, he could see a machine like the ones he usually saw while checking on Pokémon in Pokémon Centers. It was meant to track his vitals, he remembered.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

His heart was beating, so that meant he was fine, right?

He slowly sat on his bed and sighed. Why did everything feel so fuzzy?

Suddenly, the door to his room was opened. At first he was confused as he didn’t see anyone holding the doorknob, but when he lowered his gaze, his heart somersaulted.

A yellow mouse with big black eyes was staring at him from the floor.

Less than three seconds passed before Pikachu smiled and jumped toward him.

‘‘Pika–pi!’’

‘‘Pikachu!’’

Pikachu hugged him and then nuzzled him on the cheek. He seemed as relieved as Satoshi felt, or maybe even more. His trainer hugged him back and grinned brilliantly at him.

‘‘I’m so glad to see you, buddy,’’ Satoshi said, settling Pikachu back on his bended knees.

‘‘Pika pikachu,’’ his best friend said. ‘‘Pika pika pi?’’

‘‘Of course I’m okay, Pikachu, you don’t need to worry. How ‘bout you?’’

Pikachu almost rolled his eyes at how easily Satoshi dismissed his own condition even when he was the one who had just woken up in a hospital. He nodded at his trainer instead. ‘‘I’m fine. The rest of the team is too, just like Clemont and Eureka.’’

‘‘I’m glad to hear it!’’ Satoshi said. They fell silent.

Just then, Satoshi felt like there was something really, really wrong, like something was missing.

Something…

Someone.

Everything clicked in an instant.

He remembered everything.

Going to look for Serena in town and only finding a lock of her hair.

Running until his lungs throbbed and his heart burned to the warehouse.

Seeing her lying on the ground, looking up at him so softly, as though she might break at any second.

‘Satoshi,’ was the last thing he had heard her say.

And the last time he had seen her before everything had gone dark, her eyes had been covered by Pancham’s sunglasses. But he knew she had already been unconscious by that time. She had been unconscious for a while.

Pikachu quietly saw the way Satoshi’s face began to change with his train of thought and he recognized exactly when Satoshi had the realization. Pikachu knew what was coming.

‘‘Serena?’’ Satoshi asked, question apparently simple, but both of them knew it was everything but that. It was just one name, yet it was the main thing that determined how Satoshi was going to feel. His entire spirit depended on Pikachu’s answer.

Pikachu averted his gaze. ‘‘About that…’’

Satoshi did not like that tone. He didn’t like it one bit. What was that about?!

His heartbeat on the monitor sped up as he raised his voice.

‘‘Pikachu!’’ He shifted on the bed, getting restless, almost making Pikachu fall by accident. ‘‘How is Serena? Is she okay? It’s not the time to be mysterious, you know?!’’

Pikachu held Satoshi’s shoulders with surprising strength. ‘‘Satoshi, calm down,’’ he said, frowning, demeanor very close to scolding. ‘‘You need to calm down. You’re still healing from your injuries, and even if you didn’t tell me, I know your body must be hurting. Just settle down and listen to me, okay?’’

Satoshi didn’t want to settle down, but he knew when Pikachu was serious about something. If he didn’t obey, Pikachu wouldn’t tell him anything.

He took a deep breath and quickly released it. ‘‘I’m calm. Super calm. Can you tell me about her now? Please, Pikachu.’’

Pikachu stopped holding his shoulders to leave some space between them. He nodded. ‘‘Serena’s okay. I’m sorry if my wording worried you, I admit it wasn’t the best. I didn’t exactly rehearse for this—but she is okay. She’s sleeping in the adjacent room right now, recovering—’’

‘‘Serena’s right here? She’s still sleeping?! I gotta see her!’’ Satoshi made a motion to stand up but was interrupted by Pikachu’s paw slapping on his arm.

‘‘Don’t you even think to get up from this bed. As I just said, you’re still recovering, Satoshi. If you try anything, you’ll only make your condition worse for absolutely no reason. You know I’m right.’’

Satoshi didn’t answer. He was completely disheveled, wearing only his hospital gown. His auburn eyes were opened wide, frantic, and his eyebrows were furrowed. He looked at Pikachu like he was pleading. It took everything from Pikachu’s will not to just let Satoshi get up and check on Serena himself. But he had to be the rational one here, for everyone’s sake, so he couldn’t let that happen.

Satoshi passed a hand through his hair and idly held a good chunk of it between his fingers, a sign of his uneasiness.

Pikachu sighed, knowing Satoshi deserved to know the details. ‘‘Clemont was right,’’ he said, looking at Satoshi in the eye. ‘‘She had a concussion. A big one.’’ Satoshi gulped; he felt like there was a huge lump in his throat that made everything hurt from that mere action. The eye contact continued as the air in the room got heavier. ‘‘She was taken into ER just like you and they were able to help her before there was any permanent brain damage, though.’’ Pikachu smiled, bittersweet. It was then that Satoshi noticed the bags under his eyes. ‘‘I’m telling you that she’s okay, Satoshi. She’s a fighter, you know her. And she’ll get better.’’

Satoshi felt slightly better after Pikachu’s words, but it was a rather empty feeling. ‘‘I just don’t like how she’s still sleeping. I woke up pretty fast, and she usually follows soon after me. Actually, most of the time she wakes up before I do. I’m a heavier sleeper than her.’’

Pikachu’s expression became troubled. ‘‘Oh, Satoshi. You didn’t really wake up as fast as you think.’’ At Satoshi’s questioning silence, Pikachu shrugged. ‘‘You’ve been sleeping for two days.’’

Beep. Beep. Beep.

‘‘Two days?!’’

‘‘Mhmm. This is the third day of your stay here.’’

‘‘And Serena still hasn’t…’’

Pikachu shook his head. ‘‘But the doctors said it isn’t necessarily a bad sign. People that suffer concussions need a lot of rest. I mean, you did wake up fast considering your condition, but that doesn’t really surprise me. Humans aren’t supposed to receive as many hits and attacks as Pokémon do, but since when have you been like other humans?’’

Satoshi smiled back for the first time in a while. ‘‘That’s true.’’

Right then, though, Pikachu frowned. ‘‘I’ve been in Serena’s room as much as I’ve been in yours, seeing her sleep, hoping to see her wake up every time her heart monitor beeped.’’ He sighed. ‘‘I’ve been trying not to blame myself for everything that happened. But I’m just so sure I could’ve done better, you know? Serena got hurt because I wasn’t strong enou—’’

‘‘Hey, I’ll stop you right there,’’ Satoshi interrupted. ‘‘It’s my time to talk here. Pikachu, you are not going to blame yourself for anything that happened that day. You did your absolute best to protect Serena, no matter what happened. I know you did because I know you. And you know what? You were with her the whole time, and thanks to you, things went a lot better than they could’ve gone, right?’’

Pikachu nodded slowly, eyes shining. Satoshi petted his partner’s head before sighing and lying back on the bed. ‘‘I also know that blaming ourselves won’t solve anything.’’ Pikachu nodded again, but then Satoshi continued. ‘‘Even when I could’ve stopped it from happening in the first place.’’

‘‘Satoshi…’’

‘‘If I had gone to look for you guys earlier, if I had trusted my gut right away. If I had gone with you guys I could’ve stopped everything from the beginning—’’

‘‘Satoshi!’’ Pikachu was by his side. Satoshi’s hand was still on the Pokémon’s head, caressing it as a matter of habit. ‘‘You just said that we shouldn’t blame ourselves. Things happened and mulling things over won’t change anything, remember? Serena reminded you of that after you lost to Wulfric. And if I’m not mistaken, she threw snowballs at your face to snap you out of it, too.’’

There was silence, only Satoshi’s monitor playing the monotone sounds of his heartbeats in the background.

Then there was laughter.

‘‘Why did you remember such a specific detail?’’ Satoshi said between laughs.

‘‘I don’t know! At the moment you told me, I thought it was hilarious. I still think it is!’’

‘‘So what? You gonna throw snowballs at me too so I stop overthinking things?’’

‘‘Maybe I will, if you keep being so stubborn!’’

‘‘Ah— Wait, my body hurts if I laugh too much. You’re right, I should let myself heal.’’

They smiled at each other. There was a brief moment of silence as they had their own trains of thought.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

‘‘Serena’s amazing,’’ Satoshi muttered after a while. Pikachu’s smiled widened. ‘‘She’s so, so amazing…’’ Then, Satoshi sighed loudly and looked up at the ceiling. ‘‘I just…’’ Pikachu could see his trainer’s chest rising and lowering as he continued to chuckle quietly, probably ignoring how the action most likely hurt. Satoshi’s eyes were shining with an emotion Pikachu rarely saw on them. Satoshi raised his head to look at him and narrowed his eyes slightly so the tears developing inside couldn’t escape. There was a big, shaky grin on his face.

‘‘I just love her so much, Pikachu.’’

Satoshi sounded so broken, so vulnerable. Pikachu’s own heart almost broke too after he heard his best friend’s voice. He caressed the palm of Satoshi’s hand with his cheek. ‘‘I know. I know you do.’’

‘‘I had always thought that I couldn’t love someone more than I loved my Pokémon and the rest of my friends. I just thought it was impossible. But then she came along and I don’t know how she did it, but she made me realize there was a different type of love, and she…’’

‘‘She moved your world?’’

‘‘She moved my whole life. Sometimes I’d just stare at her with confusion because my heart won’t stop racing when she’s near.’’ Satoshi looked down, smile turning soft. ‘‘She’s so sweet, Pikachu. She doesn’t even know how much. She doesn’t know how much she means to me.’’

Pikachu let a pause fall between them. When he spoke again, it was with a tilt of his head and a soft look. ‘‘When are you going to tell her that?’’

Satoshi stared. ‘‘What do you mean?’’

‘‘Satoshi, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but our lives are kinda hectic. And we won’t be in Kalos forever, at least not for now. When you feel this kind of thing, you’re supposed to say it. That’s called a confession.’’

Satoshi hummed. ‘‘How do you know so much about this?’’

Pikachu shrugged. ‘‘I’ve been hanging with Serena and Eureka lately, remember? Even before the whole ‘Serena can understand me’ situation. The topic is always bound to happen, you know?’’

His trainer raised an eyebrow, almost looking suspicious. ‘‘Serena and Eureka talk about that kind of thing that often?’’

Pikachu realized his slip and shrugged again, feigning nonchalance. ‘‘They’re girls. It’s like, their thing. Anyway, you really should consider telling Serena how you feel.’’

‘‘Well,’’ Satoshi said with a sigh, ‘‘I may once she wakes up.’’

Pikachu shook his head. ‘‘We’ve been through this.’’

‘‘I know. I still have the right to be mad at the universe, don’t I?’’

‘‘Yeah, you do.’’ A big smile curved Pikachu’s lips. ‘‘Don’t worry, ‘kay? You’ll talk with Pika–cha very soon. It’s a promise.’’

Satoshi chuckled again, finally feeling lighter. ‘‘You better keep that promise, buddy.’’

Not so soon after, Clemont and Eureka arrived at Satoshi’s room. They had been walking around the city to buy something for Satoshi, judging by the ‘Get Well Soon’ balloon Eureka let go of the second she saw Satoshi was awake.

‘‘Satoshiii!’’

She basically tackled him into a bone-crushing hug, and Satoshi let out an embarrassingly high whine. Clemont was next to them in a second, prying Eureka’s arms away from Satoshi.

‘‘Eureka, don’t hold him so tightly! You’re hurting him!’’

‘‘A—am I?’’ she said, quickly letting go and looking up at Satoshi with guilty eyes.

Satoshi smiled at her fondly, his grimace disappearing as the pain subsided. ‘‘Don’t worry, Eureka, I’m fine. You can hug me if you want, just… not so strongly, ‘kay?’’

‘‘Are you sure?’’ Eureka’s arms were shaking, as if she was doing her best to stay still for his sake, even if she really wanted to hug him now that she finally could. She was such a kind girl.

‘‘Come ‘ere,’’ Satoshi said, raising his own arms. Eureka didn’t think it twice before she went to hug him again, this time more mindful of his injuries. She giggled with happiness.

‘‘You’re finally up, sleepyhead!’’ she said. ‘‘Eureka was worried sick about you, you know?’’

‘‘Ne–ne!’’ Dedenne said, getting out of Eureka’s bag and hugging Satoshi’s leg with its chubby arms. Squishy got out too, landing on the bed next to Pikachu and seemingly greeting Satoshi with chirps.

‘‘Fortunately, I’m alive and kicking,’’ Satoshi answered before looking at Clemont. The young inventor was watching their exchange with a smile. He seemed like he hadn’t been this calm in a long time. Of course, Satoshi thought, having two of your closest friends unconscious can’t be a good experience for anyone.

‘‘I’m glad to see you’re well, Satoshi,’’ Clemont said after they locked eyes.

‘‘I can say the same about you,’’ Satoshi said. Eureka backed off from the hug to look at her older brother.

‘‘You can hug Satoshi too if you want to, Clemont.’’

Clemont’s cheeks turned a light shade of pink. ‘‘Th—that wouldn’t be ideal right now, Eureka. Do I need to remind you once again of his injuries?’’

Satoshi chuckled. ‘‘I don’t know, man. I think I would feel better after a hug from our favorite Gym Leader. What do you think, Pikachu?’’

‘‘Pika pika,’’ the Pokémon answered, amused.

‘‘Clemont,’’ Eureka cooed. ‘It’d be a total shame if you didn’t help the patient recover!’’

Clemont sighed. ‘‘You won’t stop until I do it, will you?’’

‘‘Nope,’’ said Eureka.

‘‘Absolutely not,’’ said Satoshi. ‘‘Come on, my arms are getting tired here!’’

Clemont smiled and shared a hug with Satoshi, Eureka cheering all the while as if this were a very important event. Satoshi laughed, and his laughter was contagious enough to make Clemont laugh too. When they finally broke the hug, Clemont adjusted his glasses.

‘‘So tell me, how long have you been awake?’’

Satoshi and Pikachu shared a look. ‘‘For about an hour, probably?’’

‘‘Has a nurse checked on you yet?’’

‘‘Not really. You guys and Pikachu are the only ones who’ve come in here.’’

Clemont shook his head. ‘‘You need to be checked immediately. I’ll go look for a nurse—’’

‘‘Clemooont,’’ Eureka complained, holding his wrist prisoner and so impeding him to go. ‘‘One of them will come here soon enough. Let’s enjoy the rest of our visiting hours with Satoshi!’’

‘‘Eureka’s right. I’m feeling just fine, I assure you!’’ Satoshi said.

Clemont seemed reluctant. However, after seeing Satoshi, Eureka and Pikachu giving him puppy eyes, he had to resign himself. ‘‘You guys. I’m supposed to be the responsible one here, remember?’’

‘‘Responsibility is boring, big bro. Spending time with friends is better!’’

‘‘Pika pika!’’

Clemont smiled. He didn’t know why he had been expecting something else from his group.

Well, there was still something missing. A sweet, gentle tone that usually worked as a voice of reason and convinced Satoshi and Eureka of things Clemont wasn’t able to. Soft laughter, blue eyes, peach cheeks.

Everyone seemed to think of this at the same time. Eureka’s head hung low.

‘‘I wish Serena would wake up again too. And this time, when we’re actually here to say hi.’’

Satoshi sighed. ‘‘You’re right— Wait.’’ He looked between the siblings. ‘‘What do you mean again?’’ His gaze fastened on Pikachu, who rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

‘‘I may have omitted a small detail.’’

‘‘You what?’’

Clemont cleared his throat. ‘‘Let me explain.’’

And so he did.

As it turned out, both Satoshi and Serena had woken up a couple of times since arriving at the hospital. However, they had both been too exhausted or simply too sleepy to interact with anyone properly before falling back into sleep. It had been mostly a half–awake half–asleep phase. That’s why Pikachu hadn’t mentioned it.

The second time Satoshi had woken up, Clemont had been in his room and had even tried to talk to him to no avail. Satoshi was very surprised by this as he didn’t remember it at all. Clemont told him it was okay and it was just part of the recovering process as the brain adapted to its regular functions while the person was awake.

The two times Serena had woken up had been different. None of them had been in her room at either moment, and even if they had been, the interaction would’ve probably been one-sided anyway. They only knew about this because the doctor had notified Clemont of the developments.

Even then, the mere fact that Serena had woken up twice filled Satoshi with calm joy. At least she’s responding. We just gotta wait until she’s finally completely conscious like I am.

The joy didn’t stop him from sending a glare at Pikachu. ‘‘Still, you should’ve mentioned it.’’

Pikachu apologized for the fourth time in a row. ‘‘I’m sorry! I don’t know much about medical stuff so I didn’t know if I could count that as being awake. I preferred to let Clemont explain it to you. Still, Pika–cha is okay, that’s the bottom line of all this, and that’s what I’ve been telling you.’’

‘‘Pikachu.’’

‘‘Don’t ‘Pikachu’ me! I’ve been stressed out these last three days, okay?’’

Clemont watched their bickering with curiosity. Satoshi’s connection with his Pokémon would never cease to impress him. That thought reminded him of something.

‘‘Satoshi, by the way,’’ he said, stopping the bickering and gaining everyone’s attention. He picked several Poké Balls from his pockets, clicking the buttons to make them grow to their regular size. ‘‘I bet you’d like to see how the rest of the team is doing, wouldn’t you?’’

‘‘Oh, absolutely! Let ‘em out!’’

Clemont released everyone, including his and Serena’s Pokémon. Greninja, Hawlucha, Talonflame, Noivern, Bunnelby, Luxray, Chespin, Braixen, Pancham, Sylveon.

Satoshi’s hospital room was suddenly very full.

‘‘Hi, guys!’’ Satoshi greeted. The Pokémon all expressed their glee for seeing him awake in their own way. Greninja held his fist out for Satoshi and they shared a fist bump. Hawlucha watched with content as Noivern hugged Satoshi. Talonflame then huddled with its trainer and stayed by his side, sending comfortable warmth through his body.

‘‘They were the first ones to recover, which could sound ironic,’’ Clemont said. ‘‘They’ve all been waiting for you and Serena to wake up.’’

Satoshi nodded and his gaze landed on Serena’s Pokémon next to his bed. Greninja was giving Braixen an encouraging look, Chespin was rubbing Pancham’s back with a reassuring smile and Bunnelby remained close to Sylveon, saying kind words to her. All of them looked happy to see Satoshi was awake, but they still couldn’t hide their worry over their own trainer. Satoshi could understand that very well.

‘‘She’ll wake up soon, you guys,’’ he said, surprising Serena’s Pokémon. They looked at him with hope. ‘‘I can feel it. You’ll go back to playing and practicing your performances with her very soon.’’

‘‘Braix.’’

‘‘Cham–cham.’’

‘‘Sylvee.’’

Satoshi and Clemont smiled at the Pokémon.

Eureka’s gaze fell to the floor. ‘‘Everything is easier with Pokémon,’’ she said. Everyone looked at her with curiosity. ‘‘Even when it’s about feeling better. Whenever we go to a Pokémon Center, you just need to give your Poké Balls to Nurse Joy and she’ll be back with them soon after. The next time everyone’s out of their Poké Balls, they all look happy and healthy again, everyone’s ready to play again. But humans are so complicated.’’ Her eyes observed the machine next to Satoshi’s bed. ‘‘What are all of these wires even doing? Why can’t Satoshi and Serena heal as fast as our Pokémon friends do?’’

Clemont sat down on the bed and softly slid his hand over Eureka’s head. He realized this was the first time Eureka had been to an actual hospital. ‘‘You’re right; with Pokémon, things are quite different. You see, the Poké Ball technology allows Pokémon to be converted into energy while they’re inside. This energy is easily manipulated inside the healing machines in a Pokémon Center, so Pokémon can heal up faster than us. Humans can’t be transformed into energy like Pokémon can.’’

‘‘But why?’’ Eureka asked.

‘‘Pokémon are mysterious creatures,’’ Satoshi said kindly. ‘‘One could almost say they’re magical. They understand things that we still can’t. And yet, they’re still our closest friends and they’re loyal to us.’’ He patted Pikachu’s head, eliciting a content Pika from the mouse. ‘‘In reality, Pokémon aren’t always treated in healing machines. Or how else do you think this guy heals after every battle?’’

Eureka’s eyes widened. ‘‘Oh, that’s right! How do they treat Pikachu?’’

‘‘Chu pikachu!’’

‘‘You’d be surprised at how similar the process outside of the Poké Ball is to ours. Aside from berries and sprays, they also use weird machines with a lot of wires and the Pokémon takes a bit longer to heal. Greninja also had to recover this way, remember?’’

Eureka nodded, fascinated by the new knowledge she had. ‘‘I’d forgotten. I guess I just don’t like seeing anyone getting hurt, and my mind just… poof, got rid of the memory.’’

‘‘That happens sometimes,’’ Clemont said. ‘‘No one likes remembering sad things. But they’re still important.’’ As Clemont’s tone changed, everyone’s attention fell on him. ‘‘Our experiences help us improve. Nothing we do is pointless. That’s something Satoshi taught me.’’ Clemont glanced at Satoshi and smiled. Satoshi smiled back. Clemont looked back to his younger sister. ‘‘What happened at the warehouse wasn’t pretty for anyone, but it made all of us grow.’’

Now Clemont’s eyes addressed the Pokémon in the room. ‘‘I’m proud of every single one of you. You all fought with everything you had, even if you had to come up with your own strategies in the spur of the moment. We wouldn’t have won if it hadn’t been for all of you. Squishy, Dedenne, I didn’t say this before, but I’m very grateful to you too for protecting Eureka and helping her stop the criminal when he tried to escape.’’

Satoshi’s heart skipped a beat. With how wild his thoughts had gotten right after waking up, he had totally forgotten about the man responsible for all of this.

‘‘Clemont,’’ he began, ‘‘what exactly happened with…’’ He clenched his fists, upset just by having to pronounce the pseudonym. He decided not to, mostly for the sake of Serena’s Pokémon. ‘‘…with you–know–who?’’

Clemont knew who he was referring to right away. His face darkened. ‘‘He was captured thanks to Eureka, Squishy and Dedenne.’’ That’s when Eureka realized who they were talking about. She inched closer to her brother and held onto his forearm. ‘‘Officer Jenny and her team came into the warehouse not so long after you fainted, Satoshi. She took him to one of their cars and he’s currently in the police station. Officer Jenny told me he’ll soon be transferred to the biggest prison in the region, made for the most dangerous criminals.’’

So he’s still here.

Satoshi noticed Serena’s Pokémon tensing up while his own Pokémon looked upset and ready to battle in case anything happened. Clemont’s Pokémon reacted similarly to his.

‘‘Hey,’’ he told the Pokémon, ‘‘don’t worry about him. He doesn’t have his Pokémon with him and the police officers are keeping him in place. He won’t be able to hurt anyone anymore, ‘kay?’’

Some Pokémon nodded slowly. Eureka frowned. ‘‘Such a horrible person,’’ she whispered angrily. Clemont held her closer to him to calm her down. ‘‘What he did to Serena is unforgivable.’’

‘‘We’ll let the police take care of him, Eureka,’’ Clemont reassured her. ‘‘As Satoshi said, he won’t hurt us or anyone else anymore.’’

‘‘I hope you’re right, big bro,’’ Eureka said softly, resting her cheek on Clemont’s chest with a troubled look.

Satoshi shared a look with Pikachu. He was about to say something when the door to his room opened, revealing a nurse. She seemed surprised, both because the patient was up and because of the amount of Pokémon that surrounded him. She then smiled kindly at him.

‘‘I see you’re up. My name is Sara. I’ll run a quick check on you, okay? Just let me—’’ Sara went back to the hallway and talked to another nurse. She said something about a doctor, and Satoshi guessed she was asking the other nurse to call for his doctor. Sara was back in his room some seconds later, closing the door.

The nurses in this hospital didn’t exactly look like Nurse Joys, but they still shared a trait with them: they all looked exactly the same. Their hair was blue and tied in a fluffy ponytail that fell to their waist. Their clothing was the most similar aspect they had to Nurse Joys, the main difference was the blue color that replaced the usual pink and matched with their hair. Another difference was that, well, there was more than one nurse in this hospital, opposite to how each Pokémon Center usually has only one Nurse Joy, and all of them seemed to have their own names instead of going by the same name.

Sara went over to a counter near the door and picked up a clipboard, eyes skimming over the information written on the first page. She nodded to herself before putting the clipboard back on the counter and walking over to Satoshi’s bed. Clemont, Eureka and the nearby Pokémon moved to give space to the nurse as she stopped by Satoshi’s side. She then pulled a penlight from seemingly out of nowhere, most likely her pocket. Satoshi wasn’t sure, he was still feeling fuzzy.

Sara smiled again, reassuringly.

‘‘Hello, Satoshi. This little flashlight is to check your eyes, okay? Let your head lie on your pillow and relax. As I said, this will be quick.’’ Satoshi nodded. He immediately wanted to close his eyes when Sara turned on the penlight and shone the light directly in his right eye. His eye didn’t close though, because she had made sure to keep it open with her other hand before. He guessed she was checking his pupils, though he was not sure why. Sara hummed lowly before releasing his right eye and doing the same procedure with his left eye. She nodded after she was done with that.

‘‘Now, are you able to sit up, please? Your friends can help you with it.’’

Talonflame, Pikachu and Clemont aided Satoshi to sit even when they knew he didn’t need the extra hands. He still appreciated it, smiling at them gratefully. By Sara’s request, Satoshi moved to the side of the bed and let his legs hang out, as though he was about to stand up. He couldn’t help but gulp when he saw Sara pulling out a small hammer.

‘‘This won’t hurt,’’ Sara reassured him once again. ‘‘This is to test your reflexes and make sure everything’s in order.’’

‘‘Oh, I’ve seen this test on TV before!’’ Eureka said. ‘‘It looks kinda fun.’’

Satoshi wouldn’t exactly describe it as ‘fun’ right now, as he was at the receiving end of it, but he did find it interesting. Having good reflexes was important for everyone, after all, both for humans and Pokémon.

He looked down as Sara held the small hammer close to his right knee. She tapped just below the kneecap, which immediately made his leg react by reflex and kick the air in front of it, the tap sending a weird sensation through the rest of the leg at the same time. The kick had been completely involuntary. Satoshi gaped a little at this. Eureka wasn’t entirely wrong, this was kinda fun. Sara tapped twice more on his right knee before she repeated the procedure on the left leg. Every time, his lower leg would react with a kick before he could even blink. For the last one, he even closed his eyes and the result was the same. Once Sara was done, she stood up straight and smiled at him.

‘‘Your reflexes are quite sharp, Satoshi,’’ she said. ‘‘Your nervous system is working properly, which is great news.’’

Satoshi was excited by this. He thanked the nurse before he turned to Eureka, realizing she looked confused.

‘‘Why is his system nervous? Is it feeling uneasy because Satoshi got hurt?’’

Everyone else laughed at Eureka’s innocence while Clemont shook his head as if he had already explained this to her before. ‘‘It’s not that kind of nervousness, Eureka,’’ he said.

Sara gestured for Eureka to sit on the bed next to Satoshi, looking amused. As Eureka sat down, Sara gave her a brief explanation. At the end of it, Eureka seemed intrigued.

‘‘So it’s called the nervous system because of the ‘nerves’ our bodies have?’’ she asked. Clemont and Sara nodded while Satoshi limited himself to look. He wasn’t the most knowledgeable about these things either, but it was still quite entertaining to get an explanation. ‘‘And everything we do is thanks to our brain?’’

Clemont nodded again. ‘‘The brain is an incredibly crucial organ in our body. Everything you’re doing right now is thanks to your brain. Every time you blink, breathe, talk, think, and much more.’’

‘‘But aren’t all organs crucial?’’

‘‘They are, of course. But, if we had to classify them, the brain would come up on top.’’

‘‘And what’s second?’’

‘‘The heart,’’ Sara said. ‘‘It’s the most important organ of the circulatory system, which is responsible for delivering blood through all your body.’’

Eureka seemed to perk up at this. ‘‘Is it true that your heart beats faster when you’re in love?’’

Both Sara and Clemont seemed to be taken aback. Sara glanced at Clemont with a raised eyebrow, looking amused, at the same time Clemont looked embarrassed.

‘‘Eureka…’’ he complained.

Eureka pouted. ‘‘What? I’m just curious! I won’t ask Sara to keep you. Unless…’’ Her eyes lit up as she looked from Clemont to Sara. ‘‘Unless you want me to?’’

‘‘No!’’ Clemont shook his head so fast Satoshi was worried he might break his neck. The blond sent Sara an apologetic look. ‘‘I—I’m sorry, she’s always like this.’’

Sara chuckled. ‘‘Don’t worry about it. Answering your question, Eureka, it does. The heart is quite an interesting organ. It beats faster when you’re under intense physical activity, such as exercise, or when you’re going through a state of adrenaline. However, sometimes you just need to have a look at a special person’s eyes for your heart to beat so fast you may think it wants to escape your chest!’’

Eureka looked delighted by this information. She even looked a bit amused, which Satoshi found weird. ‘‘So that’s what she always feels,’’ Eureka muttered with a big smile. Before Satoshi could ask what that was about, she whipped her face toward him, now smirking. ‘‘Hey, Satoshi, doesn’t your heart want to escape your chest when you look at Sere—’’

‘‘Eureka!’’ Clemont suddenly said, looking alarmed. The siblings then began to bicker, Clemont trying to stop Eureka from saying what she had meant to say, while Eureka kept saying that ‘it was about time someone addressed the topic’. Sara just stood there, watching the banter, as she didn’t really know how to react. Satoshi’s eyes widened and he shared a look with Pikachu. That little traitor actually smirked at him.

‘‘This is great,’’ Pikachu said. ‘‘Even Eureka has noticed. I think you’ve become quite obvious about it lately, haven’t you?’’

Satoshi narrowed his eyes. ‘‘I’m literally in the hospital, are you actually going to start that again?’’

‘‘You know that won’t work with me.’’ Pikachu put the back of his paw on his forehead and touched his chest with his other paw, sighing dramatically. ‘‘Oh, poor Satoshi, sitting on his hospital bed as his best friend Pikachu attacks him with The Truth.’’

‘‘Sometimes I wish I couldn’t understand you.’’

‘‘Be careful with what you wish, or have you already forgotten what happened last time one of us made a wish?’’

‘‘I doubt Jirachi would grant us another one this very century.’’

‘‘It just might, who knows? I mean, who even understands Legendary Pokémon, anyway?’’

‘‘Touché.’’

When Satoshi broke eye contact with Pikachu, he noticed Sara was looking at him with wide eyes. She pointed at Pikachu. ‘‘Are you… Did you just have a whole conversation with your Pikachu?’’

Eureka seemed to hear that, as she stopped bickering with her brother. She smiled at the nurse. ‘‘He does it all the time! He and Pikachu understand each other completely, you know? They’re the best of friends, like me and Dedenne!’’

‘‘Ne-ne!’’

‘‘Fascinating,’’ Sara murmured. Satoshi and Pikachu rubbed the back of their heads sheepishly at the same time. ‘‘They even mirror each other.’’

‘‘That’s just how they are,’’ Clemont said with a laugh.

‘‘I’m sorry I’m late,’’ a new voice joined in. Everyone turned to the door to find a man with graying blue hair and a white coat stepping in the room. The man smiled at everyone before his gaze landed on Satoshi. ‘‘My name is Hatobito, your doctor.’’

After Doctor Hatobito arrived, everyone introduced themselves. Sara told the doctor about the results of her quick checkup and then he began to ask Satoshi some questions about what had happened, most likely to test how his memory was doing. Satoshi was able to answer most of them, having trouble with some blurry memories here and there that corresponded with the moments after Greninja had been hit by strong attacks, as Satoshi had been able to feel everything too thanks to their connection. Fortunately, Clemont was there to explain the situation more clearly when Satoshi wasn’t able to.

Satoshi’s bond with Greninja seemed to fascinate the doctor. Hatobito said that Officer Jenny had informed Professor Sycamore about what had happened in the warehouse not so soon after everything was over, and that Professor Sycamore had reached out to Hatobito to explain what he knew about Satoshi–Greninja. This was to ensure that Hatobito knew exactly what he would be working with while taking care of Satoshi’s health. Satoshi listened to all of this with surprise. He had begun to ask himself how Officer Jenny would know to contact Professor Sycamore when Hatobito answered the question for him, as though reading his mind.

‘‘All of this was made possible thanks to your friend Clemont here,’’ he said.

Satoshi’s eyes were on Clemont the next second, looking at him in awe. Clemont looked embarrassed, noticing the gratefulness in Satoshi’s gaze. ‘‘It’s the least I could’ve done. I’m not qualified to help you as a doctor would, but at least I could make sure they treated your injuries correctly, considering they’re quite different from standard injuries.’’

‘‘You’re amazing, Clemont!’’ Satoshi said anyway.

‘‘Pika!’’ Pikachu said, which Satoshi translated as Pikachu thanking Clemont as well.

Clemont shook his head. ‘‘As I said, I did what I could. Eureka was amazing too,’’ he said, surprising his little sister with the sudden praise. ‘‘She called the police from a public phone soon after I sent her out of the warehouse. Thanks to her, they were quickly able to transport all the injured to the appropriate facilities, including you and Serena.’’

Eureka imitated Clemont as she shook her head as well, probably about to attribute their success to someone else. Doctor Hatobito talked before she could, though. ‘‘All of you did very well. Of course, you should have called the police and waited for them to arrive before going inside the warehouse, but even then you were able to hold a battle against quite strong opponents, according to what Officer Jenny told me.’’

Clemont expressed his approval, saying that they hadn’t even thought of the police at the moment because of how tense the situation had been.

Satoshi noticed Pikachu looked low-key unimpressed. The mouse muttered, ‘‘I’m glad you guys didn’t wait for the police. They kinda have a talent to arrive after the most important things happen.’’

Some Pokémon around quietly agreed. Satoshi was about to scold Pikachu for his words, but couldn’t find it in himself to do it. He didn’t regret a thing about what he had done, after all. Since he had realized that Serena and Pikachu’s safety was on the line, he had immediately felt that he had to take matters into his own hands. They had arrived right after Serena had been directly injured, and he didn’t want to think what would’ve happened if they hadn’t come to her aid right at that moment. He didn’t voice his thoughts to anyone though, simply watching and participating in the conversation when he felt it was right.

Sara and Hatobito left some minutes later, letting Satoshi know he could call a nurse with a button near his bed in case he needed anything before exiting the room. Eureka attempted to press the button soon after, curious to see if a nurse would come fast if she did, but was stopped by Clemont just in time. He scolded her, telling her that the button should only be used when truly needed as nurses had a busy and important job to do all around the hospital. Eureka pouted through her brother’s whole speech, though Satoshi could tell she understood why it was necessary.

The rest of the day went by, the siblings and Pokémon keeping Satoshi company. Pikachu would go out of the room to visit Serena’s from time to time, checking on her as if he were her nurse. Serena’s Pokémon would also take turns to see her when Pikachu did so. Pikachu’s concern for her always made Satoshi smile. He hadn’t noticed how deep of a bond his best friend had formed with… well, his other best friend. And he suspected it wasn’t only because Serena had become able to have flawless conversations with him; they had begun to grow close before that.

As Satoshi thought of that, he realized he wasn’t entirely sure of where he and Serena stood. He thought of her as his best friend too, and he’d begun to do so not so long after he’d invited her to his journey through Kalos. This fact about himself had surprised Satoshi. Clemont was very close to him too, even Eureka was, but he always felt like he was closer to Serena, somehow.

It had stopped surprising him once he had realized exactly what his feelings were. It hadn’t been an easy process, of course, as this had been entirely new to him. It still was. But Pikachu had been right about something; girls liked to talk about feelings quite a lot, and some of those conversations were bound to leave him thinking and discovering things about himself.

Serena just so happened to be what people would call a very feminine girl. All of his other female friends were feminine too, at least to an extent, but Serena’s personality shone in that aspect more than the others. And that, which had also been surprising at first, has never really disturbed Satoshi in any way. He even found her sometimes high-pitched voice and her love for fashion to be quite… charming. That still hadn’t been what had brought Satoshi so close to her, though.

It had been Serena as a whole.

The way she carried herself, her kindness and sweetness. The way she always looked out for him and supported him in everything he did, even if she thought it was wild or nonsensical, just because she could see how much he believed in it. She always believed in him. Serena had been insecure at first, still was sometimes, and yet she still did her best for herself and for the people she held dear. He found pride in the fact that he was one of the reasons she had grown more confident as they journeyed together.

He could admit he also liked her ability to bake the best Poké Puffs and macarons. No, he had no words to describe her cooking. What she baked felt like a blessing from the sky… maybe that was a good enough definition. Nah, that’s still too weak of a description.

Satoshi was beginning to ponder how he could properly describe Serena’s cooking when a bell rang outside of his room. Everyone stopped what they were doing to hear the voice of a nurse as she seemingly began to announce something.

‘‘Visiting hours are over. We kindly ask all of our visitors to say their goodbyes and leave the hospital. You may come back tomorrow at 11 am. Have a good night, everyone.’’

Eureka was the first one to voice her disappointment. ‘‘Already?’’

‘‘We’ve been here all day, Eureka,’’ Clemont said, looking a bit disappointed himself. He pointed at Satoshi with a quick nod. ‘‘Satoshi’s still recovering and he needs some quiet time like the rest of the patients. You heard the nurse, we’ll come back tomorrow after breakfast.’’

Eureka reluctantly agreed. As Clemont recalled all the Pokémon (most of them quite sleepy since it was already 8 pm), Eureka moved toward Satoshi in the bed and gave him a light hug. Satoshi hugged her back and whispered to her ear. ‘‘Remember what we talked about, ‘kay?’’

The blonde nodded enthusiastically and whispered back. ‘‘Okay!’’

Soon after, the only visible Pokémon were Pikachu and Squishy, as Dedenne was hidden in Eureka’s bag, already snoring. The siblings bid goodbye to Satoshi, promising to visit tomorrow, and headed out.

Clemont had warned him that the hospital rules didn’t allow for any Pokémon to stay with their trainer after visiting hours, something about patients needing quiet time again. But, to no one’s surprise, Pikachu had refused to leave the hospital with the siblings, saying that he was going to stay the night there even if it was in the bathroom. Satoshi wasn’t going to let him stay in a place where he would be uncomfortable though, and Pikachu knew that.

As the siblings left, Satoshi turned to find Pikachu at the edge of the bed, looking toward the door. Satoshi was curious as to why Pikachu wasn’t right by his side, until he realized that the Pokémon was, more than looking toward the door, keeping his eyes on the wall that separated Satoshi’s room from Serena’s. Satoshi didn’t need to think about it too long to understand what it meant.

Some minutes later, Sara came into the room, probably checking if all the visitors had left. When her eyes landed on Pikachu, she knew that wasn’t the case. She moved to the counter and read Satoshi’s file that was held by the clipboard, to his surprise. She had already done that earlier that day, why would she need to do it again?

‘‘Hi, Satoshi,’’ she said, turning to him with a kind smile. ‘‘Hi, Pikachu. I’m sorry, but your Pokémon can’t stay in your room. The hospital rules don’t allow it. We have a special place for Pokémon where your friend can stay, though. I can guide him there, and he can come back tomorrow at the same time visitors are allowed to.’’

‘‘Hi, Sara,’’ Satoshi responded. ‘‘I’m sorry if this is inconvenient, but can I have a glass of water before I go to sleep?

The nurse blinked at him after he addressed her as ‘Sara’, and then she smiled a bit sheepishly. ‘‘I’m not Sara, I’m a different nurse. I get why you’d confuse us, though,’’ she said with a small laugh. ‘‘And it’s not inconvenient at all! I’ll bring you the glass in a sec. Please say goodbye to your Pikachu in the meantime so he can come with me after I’m back.’’

The nurse went out of the room to get the glass of water. The request in itself wasn’t too weird. Before Sara and Hatobito had left his room, they had removed the IV that had impeded him from dehydrating while he was unconscious and he was now allowed to drink water directly from the glasses delivered to him (which his throat was immediately thankful for). Even then, the request had still been sudden, and Pikachu noticed right away.

The electric mouse looked back at him suspiciously, knowing Satoshi was plotting something. At the same time, Satoshi was sure he had won the lottery. He had thought it might be harder to convince Sara of letting Pikachu stay with Serena tonight, as Sara already knew how close he was to Pikachu and would be more willing to let Pikachu stay with him, if he could even convince her at all. With a nurse that didn’t know them, though? That was different.

‘‘Satoshi,’’ he heard his best friend say, ‘‘what are you thinking about?’’

Satoshi simply smiled at him with determination. ‘‘You want to keep Serena company, don’t you?’’ Pikachu looked taken aback at first, but nodded soon after. They understood each other without needing words, after all. ‘‘I’ll try my best so you can stay with her. Just go with the flow, okay?’’

‘‘The flow?’’ Pikachu was confused, but couldn’t ask anything else as the nurse came back to the room.

‘‘Here you go,’’ she said as she handed Satoshi a glass with lukewarm water.

‘‘Thanks! Are you…’’ Satoshi paused awkwardly. ‘‘Are you the nurse from…’’

The nurse smiled at him knowingly. ‘‘Earlier? Yes,’’ she laughed. ‘‘I realize I didn’t tell you my name. I’m Hope. You can talk to me or any other nurse if you need anything, we’re here to help you.’’ She turned to look at Pikachu. ‘‘Have you guys said your goodbyes? Because it’s time to go.’’

Satoshi cleared his throat to get Hope’s attention, also getting Pikachu’s. ‘‘Actually, this is not my Pikachu.’’

Pikachu’s eyes widened inevitably when he heard those words. Now he was totally lost. What kind of flow was Satoshi expecting him to follow? He did his best to feign innocence when Hope looked from him to Satoshi.

‘‘He’s not?’’ Hope asked with curiosity. ‘‘You must be pretty close if he’s not your Pokémon and he wants to stay with you all night.’’

Satoshi shook his head slowly. His eyes went toward the same wall Pikachu was looking at earlier; the wall that divided his room from Serena’s. ‘‘The truth is that this Pikachu is my friend’s Pokémon. Have you visited the room next to this one? There’s a girl with honey-blonde hair resting there.’’

Hope’s expression became empathetic with recognition. ‘‘Oh, the patient that suffered a concussion. I went inside to check on her today. Her name is Serena, correct?’’

Satoshi nodded. ‘‘This is her Pikachu. Just like us, he’s very concerned about her, and he hasn’t been able to be there the few times she’s woken up, because she usually does it at night. Serena is Pikachu’s best friend and these last couple days have been very hard on him. I think he blames himself, you know?’’

‘‘Oh, you poor thing,’’ Hope said, and Satoshi knew he was getting to her. Pikachu didn’t seem confused anymore, letting his real worry show on his face. ‘‘I assure you it’s not your fault. She’s getting better. I…’’ she paused for a moment, unsure if she should continue, before she shook her head and smiled reassuringly at Pikachu. ‘‘I think she might even wake up tomorrow, this time with more strength to stay awake for longer. I know she’s made big progress with the little I’ve seen of her case.’’

Pikachu cheered up at that, while Satoshi decided to finish his plan. ‘‘Then let him be there for her,’’ he said. Hope looked unsure again, but she wasn’t able to take her gaze off Pikachu. Satoshi smirked internally as he saw the mouse was giving her his best pleading look, a warm brown shade reflecting off his dark eyes as they shone with emotion, the rest of his face shifting into a sad expression. ‘‘He’s a very docile Pokémon, and I can assure you he won’t disturb her. It’s the last thing he’d do, really. The thing he wants the most is to be there with his best friend and be by her side to greet her when she wakes up. I know it’s against the rules, but maybe you could make an exception? I think Serena’s recovery might even speed up if she has Pikachu giving her strength.’’

The next seconds felt like hours as everyone stayed silent, Hope thinking about it, Pikachu staring at her with his pleading eyes and Satoshi doing his own pleading look as well.

Finally, Hope sighed. She turned at Satoshi. ‘‘I can’t promise anything, but I’ll ask her doctor if it’s possible. I believe you guys share the same doctor.’’

‘‘Doctor Hatobito?’’

She smiled. ‘‘Yes, that’s him. I think he’s still around. I’ll go look for him and tell you what he decides. Again, please don’t get your hopes up,’’ she said, which Satoshi found a bit ironic, ‘‘I can’t promise he’d be willing to make the exception. I’ll be back, okay?’’

Satoshi and Pikachu nodded readily, and they saw her get out of the room. They sighed in relief.

‘‘I hope she doesn’t run into Sara,’’ Pikachu said.

‘‘Even if she doesn’t, Hatobito still knows that you’re my Pokémon. We just need to hope this whole situation warms his heart enough to let you stay.’’

Pikachu snickered. ‘‘Hope. Heart.’’

Satoshi joined him in his amusement. ‘‘You noticed it too, didn’t you?’’

‘‘The names of these people are so cheesy.’’

‘‘Yes, but I think they suit them. They’ve been very helpful to all of us. Mainly to…’’

Pikachu nodded. ‘‘There’s always a nurse checking on her when I go to her room, even now that her situation is more stable.’’ Pikachu then raised an invisible eyebrow at him. ‘‘By the way, that ‘flow’ of yours surprised me. Lying much?’’

Satoshi shrugged, not regretting one second of what he had done. ‘‘It’s not a complete lie. Maybe you and Serena aren’t best friends as you and I are, but you’re still very close. I mean, I did all of this because I noticed you wanted to spend the night with her.’’

‘‘I can’t really deny that,’’ Pikachu said. ‘‘I knew I had my best shot at staying tonight when I saw you were awake. I had to stay back at the Pokémon Center with Clemont, Eureka and the rest of the Pokémon the last two nights and that made me miss out on the times Serena gained consciousness.’’

‘‘Well, that changes tonight. You’ll be with her for the both of us, you can have my word.’’

Pikachu agreed.

Doctor Hatobito visited the room some minutes later, Hope walking behind him. He watched Satoshi and Pikachu with a knowing look—he knew they had technically lied to Hope. Even then, their nervousness dissipated when the doctor smiled at them.

‘‘You can sleep on the chair next to her bed,’’ he told Pikachu.

Hope had to kindly shush them when they celebrated a little too loudly.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Everything was so white.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Everything was too bright.

Serena covered her eyes with the bedsheets. Ah, that’s better.

She became bored once she realized she didn’t know what to think about. Her mind was taking a vacation, it seemed, because she couldn’t for the life of her figure out what. What was ‘what’? Exactly.

She figured it would help if she knew where she was, first of all. Reluctantly uncovering her eyes back to the unforgiving lights outside of the bedsheets, she waited until her eyes adjusted to look around. Everything was still white. The color that stood out among the sea of white was the light blue of the clothes she was wearing. She didn’t remember buying these clothes. She placed a hand over her chest, already missing her regular outfit. Not having the ribbon he gave her on her clothes always made her feel void.

As her mind settled on him, still not entirely sure of who she was referring to, she was finally able to have a ‘reset’ and she began to see things more clearly. The first thing she noticed was that her head was threatening to have a headache at any second, the uncomfortable feeling of throbbing already present. She already regretted being aware of things. Deciding not to move her head too much lest the headache gets worse, she continued to look around the room.

Her suspicions were confirmed as true when her gaze landed on the heart monitor by her side. Then the clothes she was wearing and the room she was in made sense. She was in a hospital.

She began to rack her mind to understand how she had gotten there when her headache threatened her once again, so she decided to take it easy for her brain’s sake. It was so annoying. Why was she here? Why did she feel weak?

She groaned lowly and automatically regretted it. Her throat was so dry. She was too flustered to be fearful of somehow dying from dehydration, though. She was too flustered to do anything in general. She closed her eyes and sighed.

She realized her groan must have been heard when she felt something landing on her bed. Her eyes stayed close as the shape moved closer toward her. It stopped some inches shy of her head and she felt it was staring at her.

When she opened her eyes back up, she was greeted by dark shining eyes in a very yellow face. She also saw two particularly red cheeks.

‘‘Pika–cha,’’ he said, almost like he couldn’t believe it.

Serena looked at him for some seconds, mind registering what this was about. And then, her eyes widened.

‘‘Pikachu,’’ she said. She smiled for the first time since she’d woken up, finally having a reason to. ‘‘Is that really you?’’

Pikachu laughed wholeheartedly before nuzzling her face softly. She let him do it, concentrating all her efforts into her arm to raise it and place her hand on Pikachu’s head.

‘‘Pika pikachu pi,’’ Pikachu said. Serena frowned with confusion. Was Pikachu tricking her by purposefully speaking in Pika-Pika?

So why was it that she understood perfectly what he said anyway?

Meh, maybe her mind was still too slow to take notice of anything.

‘‘I’m fine,’’ she said, half-lying. She didn’t feel like dying, but she wasn’t all dandy either. She still had it in her to smile reassuringly at Pikachu, though.

Pikachu’s eyes began to shine even more than before. ‘‘Pika–cha pi pika…’’

Serena’s smile…

Serena caressed the fur on Pikachu’s head. ‘‘Yes, my smile,’’ she said fondly. ‘‘I guess you missed seeing it?’’

Pikachu nodded, leaning on her touch. He seemed so happy and yet he was restraining himself from speaking too loudly or touching her too much as to not inconvenience her. Serena could say she was grateful for it.

‘‘And I can see you still understand me,’’ Pikachu said. Serena still heard it as a bunch of pika’s for some reason, but she could somehow feel what Pikachu was saying. She still didn’t think too much of it.

‘‘Of course I can. You can’t escape from our bond.’’

His smile widened. ‘‘I wouldn’t have it any other way.’’

Serena retrieved her hand from Pikachu’s head and let it rest on the bed, sighing. She felt… She didn’t even know how she felt. Some part of her mind told her there were things she was supposed to be thinking about, but she had no clue what. All she knew right now is that she was somehow in a hospital and that Pikachu was with her, and she was happy with that knowledge for now.

Pikachu stayed by her side. He would ask her if she was okay every few minutes, to which she would answer with the truth, realizing that lying wouldn’t really make anything better. The headache was still there, she was thirsty, her body felt stiff, she wanted to move but at the same time didn’t, among other things. Pikachu listened attentively and made sure to reassure her every time. Then he began to talk about random things that came into his head to distract her. She didn’t listen to everything, her mind just shutting down sometimes, but she knew Pikachu was keeping the topics light so it didn’t really matter if she didn’t pay attention.

At one point, someone came through the door. He said he was a doctor and Pikachu seemed to know him. He asked her a couple of questions about how she felt and seemed to read something on a clipboard. Serena frowned in his general direction, feeling he wanted to ask more but was holding back. Maybe so she wouldn’t strain too much?

‘‘Well, Serena, you have made a lot of progress since you’re here,’’ he said. ‘‘You’re quite the strong girl, let me tell you.’’

Serena scoffed. ‘‘Strong. Yeah, right. I can’t even move from this bed and I’m dying of thirst, doc.’’

Pikachu looked at her with wide eyes, surprised by her blunt response to the doctor’s words. The doctor chuckled upon seeing the look on Pikachu’s face and smiled at him. ‘‘Don’t worry, Pikachu, it’s not her intention to be rude. Irritability is a common symptom of people that have suffered a concussion. She might think the world is against her for some time, but she’ll be back to normal soon.’’

‘‘How wouldn’t the world be against me? My head’s going to blow up.’’

Pikachu chuckled this time, finally understanding her behavior. He looked at the doctor questioningly and mimed himself drinking from a glass of water. The doctor nodded.

‘‘She’s not dehydrated thanks to the IV, but since her throat hasn’t been in contact with water in some time, she feels like she hasn’t drunk in ages. Pikachu, could you help her sit up? That way she can drink more comfortably.’’ Pikachu nodded quickly and began to help a complaining Serena sit up against the headboard. ‘‘I’ll make sure to help you with that headache too, okay, Serena?’’

‘‘I bet you will.’’ Upon seeing Pikachu’s disapproving expression, she corrected herself. ‘‘Sorry. Yes, I’d really like that. Thank you, doctor.’’

Doctor Hatobito smiled, understanding of his patient. He walked toward the door of the room and opened it, going outside and into the hallway. Some minutes later, he came back with a glass of water and a pill.

Serena accepted the items, swallowing the pill and drinking the water. Pikachu was surprised as she downed the whole glass in record time, sighing in relief once she was done. Not even Satoshi had drunk so fast the first time he had asked for a glass.

After that, the doctor asked her a couple more questions and left the room to take care of other patients. Pikachu rubbed her arm with his paw to help her relax. ‘‘Hey, you okay? You want to lie back down?’’

Serena didn’t say anything, but her expression was a very clear yes. Pikachu helped her as best as he could until she was back on her pillow.

She maintained eye contact with him for a while, seemingly thinking about something. When she smiled, it was wider and more genuine than before.

‘‘Thank you for staying here with me and tolerating me, Pikachu,’’ she said softly. Pikachu quickly shook his head.

‘‘You don’t need to thank me. You’re important to me, Serena, you know that. I’ll be with you every step of the way. You’ll be back with our friends soon, I promise.’’ He suddenly perked up. ‘‘Oh, speaking of that. Clemont and Eureka won’t be able to visit in another hour, but I think Satoshi has permission to get out of his bed and walk around. Do you wanna see him? I can go look for him, his room is right next to this one!’’

Serena nodded absentmindedly, getting comfortable on the bed. The pill seemed to have lessened her pain.

‘‘I’ll go get him. He’ll be so happy to see you!’’

‘‘Mhmm,’’ Serena hummed, closing her eyes and relaxing.

Pikachu rushed out of her room and into Satoshi’s.

‘‘Satoshi, wake up.’’

Satoshi groaned and shifted on the bed.

‘‘Satoshi!’’

His trainer shushed him, frowning with his eyes still closed. ‘‘Now I get why they don’t let Pokémon stay with their trainers.’’

‘‘Sara was here just now. She said you were allowed to walk around the hospital!’’

‘‘That’s great news. I’ll do that in a bit,’’ Satoshi said, words slurring and clearly ready to continue sleeping.

Pikachu scowled at him, seriously considering if he should wake him up with a Thunderbolt. He knew Serena wouldn’t be happy about that, though, so he kept trying with words.

‘‘If you don’t get up now, you won’t be able to talk to Serena.’’

‘‘Mmm.’’

‘‘She’s awake right now, you know?’’

‘‘Mhmm, great,’’ Satoshi continued to mumble. ‘‘Serena’s awake. That’s coo…’’

Pikachu almost had to use Iron Tail on the bed to stay put when Satoshi sat up at the speed of light.

‘‘She’s a— Whoa, okay.’’ Satoshi’s body didn’t take kindly to his sudden action and he began to feel very dizzy. ‘‘Holy Muk, okay, oof, Shinxs.’’

Pikachu looked at him, unimpressed, his arms crossed and his eyebrow raised. ‘‘Are you done?’’

‘‘Y-yeah, I think,’’ Satoshi answered. He then began to comb his hair with his fingers, which might be the wildest thing Pikachu had seen in a long time.

‘‘Uh, Satoshi?’’

‘‘I know, I know, I’ll get up. I just need to…’’ he trailed off, now cleaning his hospital gown of… Pikachu wasn’t exactly sure what. He also passed his fingers around his face, clearing the sleepy dust under his eyes and also combing his eyebrows.

Now Pikachu was officially losing it. He couldn’t help it as he burst out laughing.

‘‘Are you… are you getting ready to see Serena? I gotta say, you’re rocking that hospital look! She’ll love it!’’

Satoshi frowned, but the pink on his cheeks betrayed how flustered he was. ‘‘Shut up and get ready. We’re heading over there.’’

‘‘You sure you don’t want me to call over Sara to give you a mint?’’

‘‘I’m leaving you behind.’’

‘‘Okay, okay, let’s go, Romeo!’’

Satoshi looked down at Pikachu as he placed his hand on the doorknob to Serena’s room. Pikachu looked back at him and nodded supportively before speaking. ‘‘A little warning before we go. She might accidentally insult you while we’re there, but that’s just a symptom, so don’t worry ‘bout that.’’

‘‘What.’’

That didn’t exactly clear any of Satoshi’s doubts, but he decided to just brush it off. He filled his lungs with air and released it. Slowly and quietly, he opened the door and stepped into the room.

Serena’s room wasn’t too different from his. It was actually identical, except for the clipboard on the counter that had Serena’s case instead of his… and for the girl lying on the bed, of course. Pikachu ran up to the bed and climbed it while Satoshi took another breath, his eyes landing on a very interesting spot on the ground. ‘‘Hey, Serena!’’ A bubble of nervousness surrounded him and he brushed under his nose sheepishly. ‘‘How are you doing?’’

The answer was silence, except for the heart monitor connected to her.

‘‘Um… buddy,’’ Pikachu said, looking at him apologetically, ‘‘I think she fell asleep again.’’

The bubble popped right then.

Satoshi gaped as he took an actual look at her. Her eyes were closed and she didn’t seem to hear anything they were saying.

Feeling a bit disappointed, he walked toward the bed and sat down in a chair, moving it closer.

His disappointment quickly disappeared, though, when he saw her expression up close.

She looked so… peaceful. Her lips were curled up lazily in a content smile. Pikachu had told him that her skin had looked a bit pale the last time he had visited, and Satoshi was glad to see that the color was coming back to her face.

Only when Pikachu coughed knowingly did Satoshi realize his hand was already holding Serena’s.

Serena.

Pikachu usually liked to tease him by saying he loved Serena, and he hadn’t ever denied it. But he hadn’t been as sure of it as he was now.

He had grown to like her. He had grown to love everything about her, even the smallest things. Until, finally, he had grown to love her.

But the feeling hadn’t been complete until he had seen her in the warehouse that day.

When he had seen her, he had realized just how delicate living beings were. How easily they could just… let go. How easily they could stop answering your calls, no matter how desperate said calls were.

At that moment, everything had become too real. What he felt for her wasn’t a child’s game anymore. It wasn’t a matter of being flustered when she was around, or liking her cooking, or cheering for her to the top of his lungs when she performed.

What he felt for her went deeper than that. It was all about her happiness… but also her sadness. It was her sweetness, and it was her anger. He realized that, before the day at the warehouse, there hadn’t been a moment that elicited as strong emotions for him as the moment they had shared in the Winding Woods, when he had raised his voice and had snapped at her.

Most people would’ve backed down or said they hated him. Maybe both. Serena had all the right to do so. But she hadn’t done that. She had snapped back at him. She had told him to his face how he was being a jerk, but not with a direct insult. She had said he wasn’t the Satoshi she knew.

Ever since that day, he always thought back to that moment in the forest, when he had fallen after the last snowball and had heard her footsteps grow quieter as she had run away. Ever since then, he vowed to be better. For himself and for his friends. But, more than anything, he wanted to show Serena that he would always be the Satoshi she knew. Because nothing had broken him more than seeing the hurt in Serena’s eyes, her tears flying in the cold air, the wrinkles contorting her usually soft face.

Nothing had hurt more than that until the day at the warehouse, anyway.

He stroked her hand with his thumb, drawing small circles on her skin.

Pikachu was right.

Serena deserved to know how loved she was.

Even if she didn’t feel the same way.

Satoshi was discharged from the hospital later that day after Doctor Hatobito and Sara performed some last exams on him. They said that, at the rate she was recovering, Serena might be able to be discharged soon as well. To say Satoshi was ecstatic about that would be an understatement.

He surprised everyone when he said he wasn’t going to train right after they were back in the Pokémon Center.

‘‘You guys can train by yourselves if you wish to,’’ he encouraged his Pokémon. ‘‘I’ll just rest over here for a while.’’

Pikachu talked to them and dissipated the rest of their doubts as the best friend he was, and soon all of them were having a session of what Satoshi liked to call ‘chill training’, Pikachu replacing Satoshi’s usual role as he guided them. Clemont made a beeline for a table next to the training area and began to work on something, which intrigued Satoshi. Before he could ask the blond what he was working on, Eureka stood next to him, wanting his attention.

‘‘Mm? What is it, Eureka?’’

‘‘Satoshi,’’ she said, and Satoshi quickly noticed her tone was that of a secret agent of sorts. She looked deadly serious. He smiled when he realized where this was going. ‘‘I did what you asked of me. And what’s more, subject Big Brother doesn’t suspect a thing.’’

Satoshi chuckled. ‘‘I didn’t say Clemont couldn’t know about it, Eureka.’’

Eureka’s seriousness disappeared as she giggled. ‘‘I know, but it’s still fun to have a top-secret mission. And don’t worry, aside from me, only Agents Orange and Green know about it.’’ The two aforementioned ‘agents’ peaked from her bag, Dedenne saluting and Squishy shaking its head (it was clearly amused though). Satoshi waved at them amicably. ‘‘So, do you wanna go and see it?’’ Eureka asked, almost running in place with excitement.

‘‘Whoa, you already found something like it? I asked you to look for a shop, and I wasn’t sure this town would have exactly what I need…’’

‘‘Silly Satoshi,’’ Eureka said, waving him off like she was an expert on the topic. ‘‘Remember we’re in a city now! You haven’t seen it because you’ve only been in the hospital and now here. This city’s not as big as Lumiose, but there’s lots of shops around!’’

So Eureka had found it, huh? Luck was finally on Satoshi’s side, it seemed.

He nodded. ‘‘All right, guide me to where you found it!’’

‘‘What are the magic words?’’

Satoshi blinked. ‘‘Um, please?’’

Eureka shook her head. ‘‘We need to use our code names!’’

‘‘Ah. Agent Yellow, was it?’’

‘‘That’s right! Let’s go, Agent Blue!’’

Clemont looked up as they headed for the door. ‘‘Eh? Eureka? Satoshi? Where are you guys going?’’

‘‘My bro’s always so nosy,’’ Eureka muttered, gaining a chuckle from Satoshi, before her voice rose to a normal tone. ‘‘We’re going around to see the city, that’s all.’’

Clemont was uneasy with letting his sister go, which Satoshi understood. ‘‘Don’t worry, Clemont, I promise we’ll be back soon.’’ He nodded at Clemont earnestly, as to say ‘I won’t let anything happen to her.’ The inventor nodded back soon after, knowing he could trust Satoshi. He still looked a bit confused as he glanced at Pikachu. Satoshi knew what he was thinking. ‘‘Pikachu’s staying here. He told me he wanted to guide today’s training,’’ he explained.

‘‘Pika!’’ Pikachu agreed.

It wasn’t a lie. Pikachu was keen on training after missing almost four days in a row, and after he had learned about Satoshi’s little plan, he had asked to guide the training session for that day. He smiled knowingly at Satoshi as the raven-haired and Eureka exited the Pokémon Center.

As Satoshi put it on and looked at himself in the mirror, he felt silly and giddy at the same time. It was exactly what he wanted, though. He looked down at Eureka. ‘‘What do you think?’’

Eureka was (barely) trying to contain her giggles. ‘‘It looks so cute! And it makes you look funny. It’s the first time I see a boy with a straw hat.’’

Satoshi grinned, adjusting the hat on his messy hair as he looked back at his reflection. ‘‘I bet it’ll be Serena’s first time seeing it too.’’

The next time Serena woke up, Satoshi was already in her room.

Hatobito had warned him of the same thing Pikachu had talked about the day before. She may be a little irritable and not know exactly what’s happening. Satoshi thought it was a bit amusing right after he heard it.

Fortunately for him, Pikachu wasn’t there at the moment. He was once again guiding his Pokémon’s training for the second day in a row. Pikachu could as well become a certified trainer if he actually wanted to. He had Satoshi’s battling style engraved as his own, after all. It was fortunate because at least now Satoshi could truly enjoy some alone time with Serena without having Pikachu tease the life out of him for it.

He was sitting in the chair next to her bed, reading a magazine about Mega Evolution, when he heard a sleepy groan. He turned around with wide eyes and saw Serena stirring awake. Closing the magazine and putting it aside, he inched closer to her in the chair.

He wasn’t wearing the straw hat. This wasn’t the time for it, not yet.

Serena stretched on the bed and yawned, already looking more energetic than what Pikachu had told him she had been last time. He thought he might cry when her eyelids opened and he was able to see those blue eyes again. Said eyes skimmed through the room, looking half-bored, until they landed on Satoshi.

She blinked, slowly. Satoshi wasn’t sure if he was supposed to start a conversation or not. He decided he should, or else she might just go back to sleep.

‘‘Hey,’’ he said, and he had to clear his throat when he noticed how emotional it had sounded. He really needed to get ahold of himself. Serena continued to look at him, expression neutral.

‘‘Hey,’’ she said back. ‘‘Water?’’

Satoshi was prepared for this. ‘‘Right here. Do you need help sitting up?’’

Serena nodded. His grip was firm to make sure she didn’t slip, yet gentle so it wouldn’t force her to move too quickly. He handed her the glass he had fetched for her earlier in case she woke up. She drank slowly, a contrast of how she had downed the glass the previous day. Once she was done, she thanked him and lowered back down on the bed with his help.

‘‘Do you have a headache?’’ he asked.

‘‘Not really,’’ she replied. ‘‘Just… fuzzy.’’

Satoshi could understand that. ‘‘I was the same after I woke up, but I had it easier. I…’’ He looked down at her hand resting on the sheets. ‘‘I wish I could take the pain away from you.’’ His heart skipped a beat when her hand slid on the bed and landed on top of his.

‘‘Hey, don’t be so hard on yourself,’’ she said. When he looked back at her, she was frowning at nothing in particular, like she was trying to comprehend something. ‘‘You know, I feel like there’s something important I’m supposed to be noticing. I’ve been feeling that way since yesterday.’’ She locked eyes with him. ‘‘Do you know what that may be?’’

Satoshi didn’t want to make fun of her, but it was getting too hard. She was so deep in her own world that she still hadn’t realized one of her closest friends was right there with her. He grinned widely, barely keeping the amusement out of his voice. ‘‘No, I have no idea. I’m just a random guy who came to visit you in the hospital.’’

Serena’s frown deepened as she focused on his face. ‘‘It’s something about that, actually. Why do I feel even fuzzier when I look at you?’’

That was interesting. ‘‘In a good way?’’ he couldn’t help but ask.

‘‘I think so. I feel like… there’s something about you…’’ Suddenly, she stopped squinting and her grip on his hand tightened. ‘‘Wait.’’

Her eyes were like saucers as she looked at Satoshi, somehow growing wider every time she blinked. It was now that she was realizing what and her brain was starting to function like it was supposed to. She looked even more mortified after she registered they were holding hands. Her expression had changed so wildly Satoshi couldn’t stop his laughter anymore.

‘‘Satoshi!’’

‘‘Yep, that’s me.’’

‘‘What th— Why didn’t you say anything sooner?!’’

‘‘I was waiting for you to find out for yourself! You’re a smart girl, you know?’’

‘‘But my brain doesn’t know that right now!’’

‘‘You looked at me for a solid five minutes. I was starting to worry you’d forgotten about me, I’m not gonna lie.’’

‘‘Ugh, Satoshi, you… you!’’

‘‘Yes, I’m pretty sure Satoshi is still my name—’’

He quickly shut up when he felt Serena’s arms around him and Serena’s hair tickling his nose. Where… Where did all of that strength come from?

Not like he was complaining.

‘‘You dork,’’ Serena said softly, and Satoshi realized the girl he was in love with was hugging him and he still wasn’t returning the hug and why wasn’t he doing that?!

His arms moved almost as fast as his leg reflex as he surrounded her waist, pulling her closer. He sniffed into her hair… but it smelled like hospital instead of flowers. What?

‘‘Why does your hair smell like hospital?’’ he blurted. When Serena stiffed, he registered what he had said and had the sudden urge to throw himself off Prism Tower for a second time. Just why. Way to ruin it, buddy.

‘‘Um… I guess it does because I’ve been in a hospital for the past… Wait.’’ She broke the hug to look at him, to Satoshi’s sheer disappointment. ‘‘How long have I been here?’’

‘‘Well… Promise me you won’t worry if I say five days—’’

‘‘Five days?!’’

‘‘Serena!’’

‘‘I didn’t promise anything! What do you mean five days?!’’

Satoshi proceeded to explain what had happened to a shocked Serena who unfortunately still smelled like hospital. No, wait, he wasn’t about to have a meltdown over that, thank you very much.

‘‘And so… yeah,’’ he finished. ‘‘You don’t remember waking up to Pikachu in your room?’’

Serena put a hand to her chin, thinking about it. She looked so cute— He also wasn’t about to get distracted by Serena’s mere presence, thanks, brain.

Or maybe he was…

No!

‘‘I do remember, but it’s a very vague memory,’’ Serena said, snapping Satoshi out of his inner fight with himself. ‘‘There was something about the way Pikachu spoke…’’ she muttered before dismissing it with a shake of her head. ‘‘Well, I guess that explains why I’m feeling so weird. My brain keeps punishing me when I try to do too much, but it’s getting better now.’’ She raised an eyebrow. ‘‘And I guess that also explains why… What was it you said? Why my hair smells like hospital?’’

Satoshi chuckled awkwardly. ‘‘Did I really say that? Haha, so weird. Guess our brains don’t feel like working lately.’’

‘‘I’m starting to think your bond with Greninja is killing your brain cells one by one,’’ Serena said jokingly. Satoshi thanked the heavens she was back in a state of mind good enough to be able to joke.

‘‘Well, if that’s the price I gotta pay to become stronger, then I’ll say bye to all my brain cells!’’

Serena laughed. It was the most beautiful sound he had heard in days, as well as the most beautiful sight. She stopped laughing after some seconds and her cheeks turned pink. She was the definition of adorable. ‘‘Um, Satoshi,’’ she said, almost a whisper. She sounded shy. ‘‘Why are you looking at me like that?’’

Uh.

He was staring, wasn’t he?

‘‘How like? Uh, I mean, like how?’’

Serena was amused by his sudden nervousness. ‘‘That smile you had. And… There was a shine to your eyes…’’ She began to giggle when Satoshi’s expression became panicked. ‘‘You’re acting so weird, Satoshi!’’

‘‘I am?’’ He grinned, promptly relaxing. He had no reason to be panicking in front of Serena. She was able to understand him more than most people. He was surprised she hadn’t caught on to his feelings for her yet. Well, he thought, she’ll know soon enough.

‘‘Yes, you are,’’ Serena answered. She raised her hand to his face and flicked him on the forehead.

‘‘Ow! What was that for?’’ It hadn’t really hurt, but it still had taken him by surprise.

She smiled, averting her gaze. ‘‘Nothing, just… I’m so happy to be back. Even if I’ve been unconscious most of the time these last few days… I missed being close to you.’’

Satoshi gazed at her in awe. The corners of his mouth curled up without his permission as giddying warmth spread on his cheeks. ‘‘Yeah… I missed it too.’’

There were many things Satoshi didn’t know about life, and he didn’t mind. He wouldn’t mind as long as he held onto the things he did know. This was one of those things that he knew wouldn’t change.

Nothing would ever make him stop loving this girl and everything she represented.

Serena was discharged two days later. The doctor said that her recovery had sped up quite spectacularly after her first true interaction in the hospital with Satoshi. The raven-haired pretended he didn’t get what the doctor meant, but in reality all of his remaining brain cells were having a party internally.

A party just like the one they were throwing Serena the second she stepped inside the Pokémon Center next to Satoshi, fresh from the hospital and wearing her usual outfit.

‘‘Welcome back, Serena!’’ Clemont and Eureka exclaimed, standing in front of the door. All of the Pokémon around them exclaimed something at the same time, most likely saying the same thing. Serena gasped at the scene in front of her, absentmindedly noticing Satoshi’s grin from the corner of her eye.

The Pokémon Center was decorated with pennants, streamers and balloons. The pennants that stood out the most were right in front of her. Each had a letter or a symbol, and it read, ‘‘We missed you!’’

Her Pokémon were already throwing themselves at her and she laughed as she held them. Everyone had gotten the opportunity to see her awake at the hospital after Satoshi had, but it was still very exciting for all of them to finally go back to what they considered normal, spending time together in a public place. Eureka hugged her soon after her Pokémon stepped back, her laughter sounding as happy as she looked.

‘‘You’re here!’’ the little girl said, looking up at her with shining eyes and a toothy grin.

‘‘I’m here,’’ Serena echoed. When she pulled away from the hug and turned at Clemont, she was surprised to see him walking toward her. After he stopped in front of her, he seemed to be fidgeting, not knowing what to do with his arms. Or, Serena realized, he does know what he wants to do. He just doesn’t know how to ask for it.

Serena smiled brightly at Clemont before she closed the remaining distance and hugged him. Clemont voiced his nervousness right after with a surprised little gasp, not having expected Serena to do that. He was quick to recover, though, hugging her back.

‘‘I’m glad to be back too,’’ she said as they pulled away with big, friendly smiles.

Clemont nodded. ‘‘Our group isn’t the same without you.’’

Satoshi’s sudden chuckle was the only warning Serena had before a yellow shape jumped into her arms.

‘‘Whoa!’’ she said as she struggled to keep her balance. Once she was steady, she beamed back at Pikachu. ‘‘I don’t even know why your jump surprised me. We’re basically best friends at this point, aren’t we?’’

‘‘Pika pikachu!’’

We totally are!

Her eyes widened. She held Pikachu in her arms and inspected him, getting curious glances from him and everyone else around her.

‘‘Serena?’’ Satoshi asked. ‘‘What’s wrong?’’

She brought Pikachu closer to her and whispered, ‘‘Say ‘Ball’.’’

Pikachu looked properly confused when she brought him back to a normal distance. ‘‘Please,’’ she said, making him understand she was serious about this.

The Pokémon decided to comply. ‘‘Pika.’’

Ball.

She had gotten the meaning right away.

Satoshi raised an eyebrow, not surprisingly understanding Pikachu as well. ‘‘What does a ball have to do with anything? Oh, do you want your Poké Balls back, Serena?’’

Clemont took notice of that. ‘‘I put them inside your bag. It’s right there on the couch, I can look for it if you want.’’

Serena shook her head. ‘‘You don’t have to.’’

She continued to stare at Pikachu.

‘‘Now say my name.’’

The mouse, comprehending she was trying to prove something, complied once again. ‘‘Pika–cha.’’

Serena was beginning to understand. If Pikachu replied to the next word in the way she thought he would…

‘‘Say Satoshi.’’

Pikachu nodded. ‘‘Pika–pi.’’

‘‘There’s no way!’’ she exclaimed suddenly, lifting Pikachu higher in her arms and feeling her heart beat faster.

Everyone was starting to feel confused. Satoshi was more concerned than anything. ‘‘Serena? What is it?’’

Serena grinned at him. ‘‘I understand Pikachu!’’

Pikachu tilted his head with a curious look as he seemed to be pondering something.

‘‘Well, yeah,’’ Satoshi said, confused, ‘‘that’s been happening for some time now, right?’’

‘‘No, no, you don’t get it. Clemont!’’ she said, turning to the inventor. ‘‘Do you remember how I described the way Pikachu’s words sounded to me?’’

Clemont was a bit startled after he was put on the spot, but adjusted his glasses with an acknowledging hum soon after. ‘‘Yes. You told me you heard Pikachu speaking in our language and you could even see his mouth moving accordingly to the words, even when everyone else heard him and saw him speaking in his own language. We agreed it was uncanny, but after we thought it might be Jirachi’s doing, we realized it was probably a situation with special magic involved.’’

Serena nodded eagerly. At the same time, Pikachu gasped. He looked up at her with wide eyes. Serena could tell he understood now.

‘‘Pikachu pi…’’

So you’re saying…

Serena nodded again.

‘‘You’re saying you can translate what I say like Satoshi does!’’

‘‘Yes!’’

They turned at Satoshi at the same time to see him looking perplexed. ‘‘Wait, really?! Wouldn’t that mean the wish is over?’’

‘‘I think it is,’’ Serena said, almost trembling, ‘‘but now I… I can somehow still get him!’’

Clemont and Eureka had been watching the whole exchange with utter bafflement, not being able to understand a thing, until the older sibling gasped in realization. Eureka looked at him impatiently.

‘‘Bro! What is it, what is it?’’

‘‘Serena’s a natural Pokémon Translator now!’’

‘‘Really?! Wait, why is it different from before?’’

‘‘She gets Pikachu’s emotions now,’’ Satoshi said, getting everyone’s attention. ‘‘Now it’s not merely the result of a wish come true, and it’s not her understanding his words. She has bonded with him to the point of…’’ He smiled at Serena with pride. She mirrored him, eyes shining. ‘‘…understanding him as a whole.’’

Pikachu grinned at the two humans.

‘‘Pika pikapi pikachu pi,’’ he murmured.

And I don’t think that only applies to me.

After marveling over her connection with Pikachu and marveling even more when she found out she could also understand her own Pokémon to an almost perfect extent, Serena was reminded there was a whole party waiting for her. Some trainers would go in and out of the Pokémon Center as the day progressed, and all of them would be promptly surprised upon seeing the cheery decorations that were arranged all around. It was a truly well-made job.

‘‘Wait, it was all you, Clemont?’’ Serena asked with awe. The inventor at the other side of the table blushed sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head.

‘‘It was,’’ he agreed.

‘‘You should’ve seen it!’’ Eureka said next to him. ‘‘My bro finished working on his invention, what was its name… Oh, the Sparkles Sparkler!—’’

‘‘Eureka, it’s called The Party Decorations Generator…’’

‘‘That’s boring, bro — And anyway, when he activated it, it shot banners and balloons and confetti everywhere! And it didn’t even explode! It was incredible!’’

‘‘I can sense you don’t have much trust in my inventions, Eureka…’’

Serena giggled. ‘‘Thanks a lot, Clemont! This place looks amazing.’’

Clemont stopped low-key glaring at his little sister to smile at Serena. ‘‘Don’t mention it! And, if I must add, that’s not the only thing I prepared for today.’’ His smile became wider as he adjusted his glasses, light reflecting off the lens, and chuckled in that way everyone knew preluded the presentation of a new invention.

‘‘I present to you… our very own Clemontic Pagers!’’ He plunged his hand into one of his pockets and took out four small round devices, each of a different color that matched Satoshi, Serena, Eureka and Clemont respectively. Everyone gazed at the devices in wonder as Clemont began to explain. ‘‘As I’m sure, no one here wants a repeat of what happened, and this is the solution I thought of. These devices have their own GPS, which means that anyone who possesses one of these can track where the others are. Of course, in order to access the system a special password is needed, just to be sure. But, more importantly…’’ He took the cyan Pager, which would most likely belong to him, and pointed to a small red switch it had on the side. ‘‘This switch right here, if activated, will ring an alarm in all the other devices. It can be used in an emergency to notify the rest that something’s wrong so they can all come to help. What do you guys think?’’

Serena took the pink device in her hands, shifting in her seat so Pikachu could see it better. They exchanged an excited glance. ‘‘Oh, Clemont, this is perfect! This can do wonders if we get separated ever again and…’’

She trailed off when she looked up to see Satoshi giving Clemont a side hug. He had been sitting next to Serena less than one second ago, so his speed was shocking to both her and Pikachu.

‘‘Technology is incredible!’’ Satoshi said, grinning widely at his friend. ‘‘Clemont, I really owe you one!’’

Clemont seemed to be struggling a bit in Satoshi’s hold because of how firm it was. ‘‘A-As I said before, don’t mention it! It’s the least I can do to help us be prepared…’’

‘‘Yeah. Thank you,’’ Satoshi said softly, perplexing Clemont. Satoshi almost looked more grateful than Serena herself was.

He really feels strongly about this.

Serena felt warm inside, just thinking about how much Satoshi must have worried about her. She knew everyone had, as all of them were friends and cared about each other’s safety, but there was something about the way Satoshi was looking at her lately…

The festivity continued. Once again, they had the Pokémon Center practically to themselves when the evening approached. As luck had it, this city had more than one Pokémon Center, and people usually went to a different one that was closer to the entrance of the city. Nurse Joy let them enjoy themselves, happy to see so much cheerfulness in her workplace.

Everyone was doing their own thing in different groups. Chespin and Pancham were having another one of their banters, Bunnelby having to stay close to them in case it got out of paw. Braixen and Sylveon stayed close to Serena even after she told them it was okay for them to join the others. They had told her that they felt more than fine by her side. Serena couldn’t believe how lucky she was to have them.

She was currently listening to Clemont as he excitedly rambled on about his Party Decorations Generator and the adjustments he had made to make it work so flawlessly. He seemed so proud of his invention she just couldn’t interrupt him, so she simply nodded along every now and then even if she didn’t understand most of his scientific jargon. Once she had gotten to know Clemont as they traveled together, she had realized just how passionate and entertaining he could actually be.

Serena glanced around now and then to see how the others were doing. One time, her eyes set on Eureka. The little girl was busy drawing in some sheets of paper that Nurse Joy had given her along with some crayons. Suddenly, Satoshi appeared by Eureka’s side and they had a brief conversation Serena couldn’t hear. After Eureka nodded at something he said, Satoshi seemed to thank her and went back to keep Pikachu and the rest of his Pokémon company. Serena couldn’t see what Eureka was drawing at the moment, but she could tell the girl was pretty intent on her creation, more so than before. It even seemed like she had started a brand new drawing after her conversation with Satoshi. Serena wondered what it could be.

‘‘—So I asked myself, ‘What would Poketa Tesla do?’ And that’s when I realized I was doing the whole equation in the opposite way! Can you believe it?’’

Serena blinked at Clemont’s expectant expression before nodding. ‘‘Um, yeah! Silly you, Clemont. But, um, at least you got it right at last?’’

‘‘Yes, exactly! So I began from scratch and—’’

Clemont’s voice became a background sound again as Serena glanced back at the rest. Eureka continued to draw, and Serena gathered she was using the color blue more than any other. When she looked at Satoshi though, that was when her curiosity reached very high levels.

Satoshi was having a conversation with his Pokémon. He looked… nervous. What could Satoshi possibly be nervous about? They all seemed to be cheering him on about something, as though giving him courage. Some of his Pokémon would glance at her from time to time, while Satoshi was pointedly not doing it. Pikachu specifically seemed very talkative the whole time.

The evening dragged on. The groups changed as different conversations found a beginning and an end.

(Serena didn’t notice when Eureka gave Satoshi the drawing she had been working on. She also didn’t notice him taking some of the pennants and other decorations with him.)

At one given time, Serena quickly excused herself to go to the restroom. When she returned, she was confused when she didn’t see Satoshi anywhere. He had been at the table right next to Pikachu just now. Pikachu was still there, looking at her almost knowingly, but Satoshi was nowhere to be seen.

She approached the table with the yellow mouse.

‘‘Pikachu, do you know where Satoshi went?’’

Pikachu nodded. When he lifted his paw, she noticed he was holding a folded piece of paper. He was offering it to her. Curious, Serena took the paper and unfolded it.

Meet me outside

—Satoshi

Serena’s eyes widened. She looked at Pikachu, questioning him with her gaze. Pikachu remained suspiciously silent as he continued to smile at her. He twitched his ears toward the door that led to the back of the Pokémon Center. Serena didn’t know what to think. The only thing she knew was that she was starting to get a bit nervous.

She glanced at the siblings. They seemed distracted as Clemont talked about the Clemontic Pagers to Eureka and the other Pokémon. He was also taking his Pokémon Language Translator out of his backpack, seemingly by Eureka’s request. When Serena looked back at Pikachu, the mouse finally spoke.

‘‘Chupi pika pi,’’ he told her.

Keep your heart open, okay?

Serena didn’t understand what he meant, but nodded all the same. Guessing Pikachu wasn’t going to say anything else, she walked toward the rear of the Pokémon Center, fiddling with the little note Satoshi had left for her.

She gasped when she was finally outside. A path made by pennants and confetti, illuminated by the white streetlights, led the way… continuing even after it had reached the beginning of the forest. A soft breeze tickled her. She took another look at the note before slowly taking off.

Okay, maybe she wasn’t just a bit nervous.

Once she reached the forest, she continued to follow the small flags. As she walked away from the streetlights, now the moonlight was what shone through the tree leaves and lit up the path ahead of her. There was something oddly familiar about this. Years ago, she would’ve never entered a forest by herself like this. Now, after meeting again with Satoshi, and after everything she had gone through… she didn’t mind it one bit. She knew he would be at the end of that path, waiting for her, after all. At least she guessed he would be.

Not so long after she began to walk through the forest, she was startled when she noticed something next to the path. It was a sheet of paper connected to a long stick, almost like a handmade wooden sign. The paper seemed to have some kind of Pokémon…

Serena gasped upon realizing what it was.

It was a drawing of a Poliwag. She could recognize those black swirls over the white tummy and the pink lips over the round blue shape so characteristic of the Pokémon. There was no doubt about that. And, judging by the way some of the coloring went past the limit of the lines and just the drawing style in general, she knew it had to be Eureka’s work.

Satoshi had asked Eureka to draw a Poliwag for this. Whatever this was.

Satoshi had…

A… Poliwag.

It reminded her of…

Could this be…?

Now even more determined than before, she continued to walk deeper into the forest. Some seconds later she found something even more astonishing.

A light and dark blue handkerchief with a Poké Ball knitted in one of its corners lay on top of another sheet of paper. Serena quickly kneeled to take it in her hands. Feeling the fabric, she was sure of it. This was their handkerchief. The handkerchief that had started everything and that she had returned to him after he’d come to Kalos.

The sheet of paper it had been lying on had something written on it.

Feel better, feel better right away!

Serena lifted a hand to cover her mouth as a younger Satoshi’s voice infiltrated her mind, representing one of her most cherished memories.

It had been during camp. Right after that, he had held his hand out to her and said…

Don’t give up till the end, okay?

Serena stood up, putting the small note in her pocket and holding the handkerchief in her hands. She had to get to the end of this path. Whatever this was about, she had to find out.

She knew she was walking faster with every second that went by, but she couldn’t bring herself to slow down. Finally, she came to a stop when she reached a clearing. She placed a hand to the blue ribbon on her chest, softly fiddling with it as she looked around. She found him soon after.

Satoshi was sitting on the other side of the clearing. His left leg was folded under him while the right one was propped up, as though he wanted to purposely let the moonlight shine on that knee. When he looked up to meet her gaze, she noticed he was wearing a straw hat.

A straw hat with a pink ribbon, just like the one she had worn back at Professor Oak’s Summer Camp.

Everything was silent as she slowly began to walk toward him, almost like in a trance, handkerchief between her fingers. It felt like a hazy dream.

‘‘Satoshi…’’ She stopped a meter shy of him. ‘‘What… What’s all this?’’

Satoshi smiled at her, fingers awkwardly adjusting the straw hat over his messy hair.

‘‘Hey,’’ he greeted. ‘‘I, uh… I hurt my leg.’’ He glanced at his propped-up knee as though that was the part of his leg he had hurt. ‘‘And I can’t get up.’’

Time was a concept Serena couldn’t grasp anymore. She felt like they stayed there, looking at each other for hours, even if just a few seconds had passed before she understood what Satoshi was trying to say.

He looked from her to the handkerchief in her hands, a wordless request in his eyes.

Serena didn’t make a sound as she slowly kneeled in front of him. When she held the handkerchief closer to his knee, his smile widened.

‘‘D-Don’t worry…’’ she began. She knew the words she was supposed to say by heart. The words he had said. Satoshi had a twinkle in his eye that urged her to continue. ‘‘S-see this?’’ she said, lifting the handkerchief so he could see it. She was surprised to see she wasn’t trembling, even with all the metaphorical Vivillon currently fluttering in her stomach. ‘‘This will make it better.’’

She gulped, and then, she scooted closer to him. She enveloped his knee with the handkerchief, tying the knot and securing it almost like it was second nature.

That… that was it, right? There was no way they were going to enact the whole thing…

Satoshi tried to stand up now that his knee was bandaged. ‘‘Ow,’’ he said after he didn’t succeed, sitting back on the grass.

He was clearly pretending, which meant…

He shrugged at her bewildered expression. ‘‘I can’t stand up. I guess I’ll just stay here and give up…’’

She didn’t think it twice before she stood up and held her hand out to him.

‘‘Don’t give up till the end, o–okay?’’

Satoshi’s grin was impossible to miss when he took her hand and rose to his feet.

Before Serena could say anything, his arms were surrounding her. ‘‘I knew you remembered the whole thing!’’ he said, an almost childish joy pouring out of his voice.

Serena felt immeasurably blissful when she hugged him back. ‘‘What do you mean you knew?’’ she said, shaking her head with a fond smile as he laughed. ‘‘You’re the one who forgot!’’

‘‘I didn’t forget a thing!’’

‘‘Mm, right.’’

‘‘Really! I just didn’t recognize you as the girl with the straw hat at first.’’ He moved back to look her in the face. ‘‘I couldn’t ever forget about you, now could I?’’

Serena thought she might be in heaven. She didn’t understand why Satoshi had arranged all of this, but she wasn’t going to complain one bit.

Moments like these just served to remind her of how much she loved him and provided yet another reason why she did.

She giggled when she took a better look at him. ‘‘That straw hat fits you perfectly.’’

‘‘You think so? Eureka thought I looked funny.’’

‘‘Oh, you absolutely look funny!’’

‘‘Eh? I thought you were on my side!’’

‘‘I am, I am,’’ she laughed. They stayed like that, just smiling at each other like the two frisky teenagers they were. After a while, the quiet sounds of the forest reminded her of the hour. She thought of Clemont, Eureka and the rest waiting for them. ‘‘So, um…’’ She looked down at their hands. A sudden boost of confidence momentarily took control of her body as she reached for his hand and locked her fingers around it. She might as well complete their little enactment, right? She looked back up at a wide-eyed Satoshi. ‘‘I guess it’s time for me to guide you back to the campsite?’’

‘‘The… uh?’’

‘‘Let’s go, silly,’’ she said, actually guiding him forward. This had been a lot of fun, but they really needed to get moving by now if they wanted to get some sleep. ‘‘It’s getting late.’’

Satoshi let her guide him for a couple of seconds before his brain seemed to realize what was happening. He suddenly stopped in his tracks and remained steady, making Serena unable to continue moving. She looked back at him with surprise.

‘‘Satoshi? Is something wrong?’’

What was happening in front of Serena’s eyes was something she wasn’t able to explain. Satoshi was a mixture of restless, flustered and nervous. He let out a heavy sigh before shaking his head.

‘‘No, everything’s fine,’’ he said. ‘‘It’s just that… Well, I did all of this for a reason, and I still haven’t explained why. It’s something I need to tell you now. So, uh, if you could stay with me for a couple minutes…’’

She had never seen him look so hesitant. Her mind provided the memories of some minutes earlier when he was talking with his Pokémon and they were encouraging him about something.

If this was something he wanted to tell her while they were all alone, it needed to be important.

Her traitorous heart was starting to perform quite impressive acrobatics by now. Stop that, she scolded herself, it’s obviously not about… that.

She nodded. ‘‘Of course I’ll stay with you. You can tell me anything, I’m here for you no matter what.’’

Her answer somehow didn’t help him with his nerves. It actually seemed to make it worse. ‘‘I knew you’d say that,’’ he whispered. ‘‘Of course you would, you’re always so…’’

He let another sigh go. He took his straw hat and fanned himself with it. Now Serena was really starting to worry.

‘‘Satoshi, what is it? I’ve never seen you so agitated like this.’’

Satoshi seemed to watch her for a while before he nodded, now looking less nervous and more resolute. ‘‘Yeah, okay, you’re right. Overthinking will only make it harder. Right, here we go.’’

After placing the straw hat back on his head, he smiled down at their hands. Serena’s face started to heat up when he actually slid his hand on hers and intertwined their fingers. Eh?!

He set his mouth in a thin line as he took one last big breath. When he let it go, he began to speak. ‘‘Serena, there’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you since I woke up in the hospital. I suck at explaining these kinds of things so I’ll just say whatever comes to my mind, I hope you can get the gist of it. I mean, of course you will because you can read me like a book most of the time. That’s something that would probably scare me if you were anyone else but you’re you and that automatically makes it easier, I think? Wait, that probably doesn’t make any sense, I’ll start again.

‘‘So, Serena, I want to start off by saying that everything Pikachu told you was true. Well, most of it. Maybe? I wonder what he even told you. Maybe that’s not the best way of wording it…’’

‘‘What… What Pikachu told me?’’ Serena said, not wanting to interrupt… whatever this was, but feeling too curious about that specific sentence. Satoshi nodded, finally looking like he knew what he was going to say.

‘‘You see, Pikachu has a habit of teasing me to death. And the day your wish came true and you began to understand him, he said some things here and there about, um, stuff I told him about you? I don’t know if you remember. It’s okay if you don’t. Actually, you know what, it’s totally better if you don’t.’’

‘‘Wait…’’

I was just talking to Serena about that time you told me she was beautiful.

You also murmured you like how she looks with short hair a lot, remember?

I remember one time Satoshi told me he felt weird when he saw you in your Fennekin outfit. If you want my opinion, he felt weird in a ‘gotta catch Serena’ kind of way.

You know, Satoshi said something interesting about you the day you wore his clothes—

There was no way she would forget about those sentences.

Soon after hearing them, she had decided to dismiss them because she didn’t want to get her hopes up. She had thought it was indeed Pikachu just messing with them. But now that she thought about it, it didn’t make sense. Pikachu could say those things to mess with her, but why would things like that bother Satoshi? He was so oblivious about anything that involved deep romantic feelings that he would normally just shrug it off.

Or maybe he… wasn’t as oblivious as she had thought?

‘‘I… I do remember,’’ she said in a tiny voice. Satoshi looked panicked for a split second before he nodded.

‘‘Yeah, okay. I get why you do. You don’t hear things like those every day. Or maybe you do? You’re quite popular in the world of Showcases and considering how you’re the most attractive Performer out there, it just makes perfect sense.’’

‘‘I’m w–what?’’

‘‘Anyway, I digress. What am I even saying anymore? Ah, yeah. Pikachu was right in what he said. I do think all of those things about you. But after what we’ve been through with The Kecleon… Sorry, maybe you don’t want me to mention him?’’

‘‘I–It’s okay…’’

‘‘Good, just checking. So, after all of that, I realized how all of those comments are still too much on the surface of what I truly feel. Do you get what I mean?’’

She shook her head. Even with how confusing the whole conversation was, she found comfort in the way he traced circles on her hand with his thumb. It kept her grounded, somehow.

Satoshi continued after he rearranged his thoughts. ‘‘Okay, let’s look at it like this. I think you’re beautiful. Or whatever word you prefer. The word itself isn’t really important. To me, it means that seeing you smile makes me very happy. I don’t know, it’s so weird, sometimes I think you have some kind of spell going on, y’know? Sometimes I’m feeling a bit down, and when I see you, poof, I just know I’ll be fine. You make me believe everything will be fine. But that’s still just the surface.

‘‘Serena, you’re so much more to me. You’re warmth and comfort. You’re pink and glitter. And something very weird happens when you’re around me.’’ He took her free hand and gently placed it on his chest. She was shocked to feel that his heartbeat was as fast as hers. ‘‘My heart beats so fast I sometimes think I’m in the middle of a battle. But what would I be battling, you may be wondering? I used to wonder the same thing. After thinking about it for a long time, I finally realized I’ve been battling my own feelings, Serena.’’

Serena stared. She had tried to stay in denial after he had started to talk but now she wasn’t sure of anything anymore. She could feel her legs trembling and her blood running cold.

This was not a confession, right?

‘‘You know, I think seeing you at the warehouse was the last straw. I felt so angry. I felt like I had failed you. I still think I do sometimes. I think I could do so much more for you. And after I woke up in the hospital, it all became clear to me. It was all… too real.’’ His eyes were shining now. ‘‘You were there, and suddenly you weren’t. And I realized how my life would never be the same if you weren’t in it.’’

Satoshi was not confessing to her right now.

‘‘I realized I wanted to do my best and beyond that if that meant I could see you by my side for the rest of my days. And I thought I was being so selfish the first time I noticed I was feeling like that.’’

Was he?

‘‘And the truth is that I’m the most selfish person when it comes to you. Sometimes I feel like the world doesn’t deserve your smile, and then I start to wonder why I would deserve it in the first place. I still don’t have the answer.’’

Was he?

‘‘Serena.’’

This wasn’t happening.

‘‘I think I’ve rambled more than enough, so I’ll just go to the point.’’

This had to be a dream. She dreamed about this exact situation every other night, why would tonight be any different?

Why would the universe confirm she did have a bond with Satoshi?

Why… Why was Satoshi smiling at her like that? Just like he did at the hospital?

Why were his eyes twinkling in the exact same way they had twinkled lately every time he looked at her?

‘‘I’m in love with you, Serena.’’

She was pretty sure her heart beat to the rhythm of his voice as he said those words.

‘‘Y–you,’’ she breathed, barely finding her voice at all, ‘‘you what?’’

Satoshi’s deep blush was making the distinctive z-shaped marks on his cheeks glow. He gave Serena’s hand a soft squeeze.

‘‘I–I’m in love with you,’’ he repeated, voice sounding a little shakier. ‘‘I know this is sudden and if you don’t feel the same way, it’s perfectly fine, but I had to tell you, because you deserved to know. I believe those are the right words to describe how I’m feeling. People usually say them when they feel strongly about a person, and I know I feel very strongly about you, so—’’

He trailed off and froze when Serena’s hands rose to his cheeks, holding them gently. He hadn’t even realized she had let go of his hand. She took a hold of his face and gazed at him intently, wordlessly. Her blue eyes shined brilliantly as they reflected the moonlight, looking like a tranquil river made of stars. Pink spread across her cheeks and some of it colored the tip of her nose.

‘‘The moon…’’ she whispered. ‘‘The moon is so, so beautiful, isn’t it?’’

Satoshi knew this meant something very important, but he couldn’t quite grasp what it was.

‘‘Is… Is this a good reaction? I still don’t know what’s happening.’’

When Serena smiled, it wasn’t only with her lips. Her eyes narrowed a little as they seemed to be searching for something in Satoshi’s own eyes. She shook her head fondly after some seconds.

He really means it, she thought. He means every word he said.

Our bond goes beyond everything.

‘‘You… you dork.’’ She leaned forward until the tips of their noses touched. Satoshi’s nose tickled her. ‘‘Your nose is pointier than mine,’’ Serena said as she giggled giddily. Satoshi grinned so wide he knew his cheeks would start hurting soon.

‘‘It is?’’

‘‘Mhmm.’’

When Serena closed her eyes, Satoshi did too. They spent some minutes there, unmoving, just feeling each other’s breath against their skin. Satoshi used that moment to gently slide his hands through the length of her arms, not wanting her to move away.

He didn’t know she planned to do the exact opposite.

‘‘Hey, Satoshi.’’

‘‘Mmm?’’

‘‘Did you know this is called an Eskimo kiss?’’

‘‘Really?’’

‘‘Mhmm.’’

‘‘That’s funny, this is so close to an actual—’’

Satoshi shut up.

This was the first time he had been shut up with a kiss.

(He quickly knew he didn’t want this to be the only time.)

The second he felt a pressure on his lips, his eyes inevitably opened in surprise. Serena seemed to notice this somehow, briefly humming into the kiss to make him close his eyes again. He complied.

Her hands moved across his cheeks. One of them rested on the crook of his neck while the other slid to the back of his head and began to play with his dark messy hair.

Serena’s hands weren’t the only ones that became restless. Satoshi blindly took off his straw hat and let it fall to the ground after he felt it was obstructing their movements. It was apparently the right move, he realized, as Serena deepened the kiss right after. Still not knowing what to do with his hands, he surrounded her waist and pulled her even closer.

Serena moved slowly but meticulously, like a flame igniting with content passion. The quality of her patience was more evident now than ever before, as he knew his own movements were probably clumsy. But she felt so soft, all of her. Not so soon after, he began to follow her rhythm almost like it was second nature, like they were meant to find each other like this.

The feelings he was experimenting were somehow far wilder than what he usually felt when he and Greninja bonded to form Satoshi–Greninja.

He realized this was a different type of bonding.

He liked this type of bonding quite a lot.

When they broke from the kiss to breathe, they locked eyes again.

‘‘Hey, Serena?’’

‘‘Yes?’’

‘‘Does this mean you love me too? I’m still a bit confused.’’

‘‘Eh? ’’

Serena looked so incredulous he felt concerned.

She shook her head in disbelief. ‘‘I don’t know whether to kiss you again or go back to the Pokémon Center right this instant.’’

Satoshi perked up. ‘‘The first option is always the best!’’

Serena’s face contorted as she tried to hold her laughter. Satoshi was trying to do the same. However, he wasn’t as strong.

When he let out a loud snort, neither was able to hold it in anymore.

They laughed so hard they hugged their stomachs when they began to hurt.

Once the laughter died off (around thirty solid seconds later), they were both breathing heavily, recovering.

‘‘So,’’ Satoshi began, ‘‘you will choose the first option, right?’’

Serena was already surrounding his neck with her arms, pulling his face closer. ‘‘Come here, you oblivious soon-to-be Kalos Champion.’’

‘‘Oh, I like the sound of that. ‘‘Wait, what do you mean ‘oblivious’?’’

‘‘Exactly.’’

Satoshi smiled fondly at her. ‘‘I love you.’’

Serena looked quite taken aback and the red in her face could rival the color of Talonflame’s wings. That intrigued Satoshi.

‘‘Why are you surprised? I told you the same thing earlier.’’

‘‘I–I…’’ she shifted in place, biting her lower lip. ‘‘I’m still not used to hearing it, it’s all.’’

‘‘Oh? Well, if that’s the case, I’ll make sure you hear it very often. I’ll start now—’’

‘‘W–wait…’’

‘‘I love you, Serena.’’

‘‘Satoshi…!’’ she whined. Those words coming from Satoshi’s voice were too intimate and pure for her to handle. She felt like she was going to dissolve. Satoshi didn’t seem about to stop, though.

‘‘I love you with my whole heart. No, no, this one’s better: I love you with the intensity I feel when I battle a very strong opponent! No, better! I love you like Pikachu loves a good bottle of ketchup!’’

She giggled, caressing his shoulder softly. ‘‘No, I don’t think anyone can match how much Pikachu loves ketchup.’’

Satoshi smirked. ‘‘I think I can. Is that a challenge I hear?’’

‘‘Satoshi, not everything in life is about challenges, you know?’’

‘‘It is if you think about it hard enough!’’

‘‘That doesn’t make any sense—’’

Suddenly, the sounds of their conversation were drowned by a noise coming from their pockets. They exchanged perplexed looks before they felt into their respective pockets. They took out their Clemontic Pagers at the same time and read the notification on the screen.

Pager Yellow activated the Emergency Switch.

They looked at each other with wide eyes.

‘‘Eureka?!’’

Satoshi took hold of the abandoned straw hat lying on the ground and rushed with Serena all the way back to the Pokémon Center.

The pair all but stormed into the building.

‘‘Clemont, Eureka! Are you guys okay?’’ Serena asked once she was inside. Satoshi stopped right next to her, barely managing to hold the straw hat before it fell off his head.

‘‘Where’s the fire?!’’ he asked.

Instead of whatever unlucky situation they were expecting to find, they merely saw the two siblings and their Pokémon exactly where they had left them.

The pair exchanged a confused glance before looking back at the siblings.

Clemont shook his head before sending Eureka a disappointed look. Eureka smiled sheepishly.

‘‘I might have accidentally turned on the alert on the phone thingies?’’

Satoshi and Serena sighed in relief now that they knew nothing bad happened.

‘‘Eureka, for the last time, they’re called Clemontic Pagers,’’ Clemont said. ‘‘And yes, you did activate it even when I explicitly told you not to.’’

She pouted. ‘‘I was just curious! And it also worked to bring them back, didn’t it?’’ Eureka seemed to remember something after saying that and turned at the pair with an inquisitive look. ‘‘Where were you guys anyway? Satoshi disappeared after I gave him my drawing.’’

Clemont was also interested in knowing where they were. ‘‘That’s true. Serena also disappeared after she said she was going to the restroom.’’ Satoshi and Serena glanced at each other subtly, not exactly knowing how they should explain the current situation to the siblings. Not even they were sure of what the situation was. Clemont adjusted his glasses as he squinted at Satoshi. ‘‘Why are you wearing a straw hat, Satoshi?’’ The blond’s gaze then lowered to Satoshi’s legs. ‘‘And why do you have a handkerchief tied to your knee? Did you get hurt?’’

When Eureka’s eyes widened in some kind of realization, Satoshi instinctively gulped. Serena was too busy holding back her laughter at the mention of how out-of-context Satoshi’s appearance must look like to Clemont.

Eureka’s eyes shone mischievously as her eyes jumped from one of them to the other. ‘‘What were you guys doing all alone? ’’

‘‘Yeah,’’ a certain electric mouse said. Satoshi and Serena were startled by his voice, not having noticed him standing right in front of them. ‘‘Do tell, you guys. What were you doing? I see Serena here is a little more disheveled than usual.’’

While Satoshi’s face began to burn, Serena raised an eyebrow at Pikachu, standing defiantly. ‘‘You don’t have teasing power over us when we’re the only ones who can understand you.’’

Pikachu smirked back. ‘‘I can just ask Clemont to use his Pokémon Language Translator. I have so much information about what I know must be happening here,’’ he said as he raised his paws and joined them by the palms with a clap, as if each paw was one of their faces. ‘‘So, did you guys kiss?’’

‘‘Pikachu! I’ll recall you in your Poké Ball right now if you keep at it!’’ Satoshi exclaimed, making Pikachu gasp with indignation. The siblings watched with amused puzzlement while Serena couldn’t stop her laughter anymore. Satoshi was so red.

‘‘You wouldn’t dare,’’ Pikachu said.

‘‘Just try me, buddy,’’ Satoshi countered.

‘‘You asked for it,’’ Pikachu said as electricity began to sparkle on his cheeks.

Serena stepped between them, still laughing. ‘‘Guys, no! We should never resort to violence!’’

Pikachu continued frowning for a moment before he simply stopped releasing electricity. ‘‘All right.’’

Satoshi gasped. He placed his hands on Serena’s shoulders and peeked over one of them, as if he was using her as a shield, and glared at Pikachu. ‘‘When you set your mind on electrocuting me, you never stop, but Serena tells you not to once and you suddenly decide that peace is an option?!’’

Pikachu shrugged. ‘‘I can’t shock Serena. It’s not a possibility.’’

‘‘Awww,’’ Serena cooed. Satoshi was still not having any of it.

‘‘I’m glad you like Serena that much, but what kinda favoritism is that? I thought we were friends!’’

‘‘At least Serena understands my love for ketchup!’’

‘‘Actually, I never said I did…’’

‘‘What makes you think I don’t get it?! Hey, don’t you even try that, Serena’s still my shield.’’

‘‘If I end up getting shocked by a Thunderbolt I swear both of you will pay for it.’’

Clemont had sneakily taken out his Pokémon Language Translator and turned it on to try to understand all sides of the conversation. He and Eureka were mesmerized when the sentences it translated for Pikachu actually seemed to match with Satoshi and Serena’s responses.

‘‘Bro, the PokéTranslator works!’’ she whispered excitedly.

‘‘Eureka, it’s called the… Actually, that isn’t such a bad name, I may register it as that when I get the patent,’’ he whispered back. ‘‘And it is working! This is amazing!’’

The best friends were still focused on their bickering, having forgotten the siblings and the rest of the Pokémon were there. Satoshi was still holding Serena by the shoulders and standing behind her, and Eureka found it curious how she didn’t seem to be panicking by Satoshi’s proximity as she usually did.

‘‘All of these years traveling together mean nothing to you?’’ Satoshi continued, pretending to be hurt by Pikachu’s alleged indifference.

‘‘Of course they do! But you still need a shock now and then to keep you on your feet, you know?’’

‘‘Ah, so now that’s your excuse?’’

‘‘You don’t seem to complain when Braixen burns you with literal Flamethrowers during her performing practices.’’

‘‘Braix braix,’’ Braixen muttered. Don’t get me into this. They either didn’t hear her or straight up ignored her.

‘‘That’s because I know she doesn’t mean it, it’s just by accident!’’

‘‘It’s also because she’s Serena’s Pokémon, isn’t it?’’

‘‘Come on, you know I like all Pokémon equally. Just because I love Serena doesn’t mean I also like her Pokémon mor…’’ Satoshi trailed off after he realized what he had said.

Everything was suddenly so silent.

Clemont and Eureka hadn’t needed a translator to hear Satoshi’s words, straight from his mouth.

If Serena was looking calm before, now she was as red as a Cheri Berry. She hid her face in her open palms and whined quietly, still not accustomed to hearing Satoshi say things like that so casually in a conversation. Satoshi slowly sank and hid himself as much as he could behind Serena, also murmuring onto the back of her neck about how he was too bad at keeping secrets.

Exactly three seconds passed before Eureka exploded.

‘‘WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?!’’

Greninja actually groaned loudly before doing a fist pump. ‘‘Ninja.’’ Finally.

Braixen’s eyes glimmered as she joined her paws together in delight. Pancham nodded, seemingly content with Satoshi finally acknowledging he reciprocated his trainer’s feelings. Sylveon formed the shape of a heart with her feelers as she smiled.

Luxray purred and Bunnelby voiced his agreement. Chespin was crying with bliss on the ground. Pikachu grinned widely, knowing by Serena’s reaction that Satoshi had confessed to her before and the answer had been positive. The rest of Satoshi’s Pokémon also seemed relieved and happy that their trainer had gotten his biggest victory yet.

‘‘Lucha,’’ Hawlucha said sagely, making the rest nod in agreement.

Clemont’s face was blank during the first five seconds as his brain rebooted and added this new information to his system. After it was done, the blond gasped and looked at his two friends (he was only able to see Satoshi’s straw hat as the boy was still dying of embarrassment for his slip behind Serena). Clemont was so surprised he didn’t even complain when Eureka began to shake him back and forth in her excitement. Her wide eyes were still set on Satoshi and Serena.

‘‘DID SATOSHI JUST SAY HE LOVES SERENA? I NEVER THOUGHT THIS WAY WOULD COME — CLEMONT, SAY THIS ISN’T A DREAM.’’

‘‘I’m pretty positive all of us are awake, yes.’’

‘‘Oh Arceus I can’t wait for the wedding!’’

Satoshi finally peeked from Serena’s shoulder. ‘‘The what now?’’

Serena wished she were anywhere but here. ‘‘EUREKA!’’

‘‘This is the best day ever!’’

Clemont sighed, smiling. ‘‘I’m just glad we’re the only ones in this Pokémon Center right now. First with the party and now with all the noise everyone’s making…’’

‘‘Clemont, you gotta join us! SatoSere doesn’t become real every day, you know?!’’

‘‘Sato…Sere?’’ Clemont seemed to get what she meant by that, but was still confused.

Serena was concerned she would end up overheating at this rate. ‘‘You know what, I’m going to bed. See you tomorrow, everyone.’’

She ignored Eureka’s protests and bid goodbye to an amused Clemont before quickly recalling her smiling Pokémon and dashing to her room.

She sat on her bed and sighed, relaxing now that she was finally alone. Little time passed before she squealed giddily, still not believing what had happened that day. It had been so much more perfect than any dream she had ever had, she couldn’t even begin to explain it. It made what had happened with The Kecleon worth it, in a way. Satoshi seriously knew exactly how to cheer her up no matter what, didn’t he?

Her eyes widened. Satoshi. She had gone up to her room without even saying goodnight to him!

‘‘Ohhh,’’ she whined, lying back on the bed. ‘‘I’m such a bad girlfrieeend.’’ A pause. ‘‘Wait.’’

She swiftly sat up. Am I his girlfriend now? We still haven’t established that! Or, well, anything at all!

She rattled when there was a knock on her door. She frowned at it. Now it wasn’t the time for Eureka to come and distract her again.

‘‘Not now, Eureka, I’m going to sleep.’’

‘‘Do I really knock like Eureka?’’ Satoshi’s muffled voice said from the other side of the door, sounding amused.

Serena blushed as a reflex, but couldn’t help the smile forming on her face. ‘‘Well, I guess not.’’

A beat passed before Satoshi spoke again. ‘‘Hey, um, can I come in for a second? It’ll be quick, I’m going to sleep soon too.’’

Serena nodded before scolding herself mentally. Satoshi can’t see you nodding, you genius.

‘‘Y–yeah,’’ she replied, and then silently cleared her throat to avoid stuttering again.

Satoshi waited a couple more seconds before opening the door and peeking into the room. They smiled at each other as he closed the door and she invited him to sit next to her on the bed.

Once he was by her side, she raised an eyebrow and smirked. ‘‘Don’t tell me we’ll have to sleep in the same room again. I mean, this bed is bigger than the last one because we’re in a city now, but sleeping with you is dangerous, someone could end up falling on the floor.’’

Satoshi chortled at that, smirking back. ‘‘With ‘someone’ you mean me, don’t you? And no, I have my own room this time. Pikachu’s probably making himself comfortable in my bed right now. It’ll be nearly impossible for me to move him once I go back. I’m already dreading it.’’

‘‘You’ve been sharing with that little yellow menace for years, I believe you can take it.’’ She laughed when Satoshi shrugged melodramatically. ‘‘So, what did you want to talk about?’’

Satoshi scratched his cheek, looking shy. ‘‘Well, I guess I just wanted to say goodnight to you.’’

His fond smile only made Serena feel more regretful. ‘‘Oh, Satoshi, I’m so sorry I didn’t say it to you outside. I just rushed here without saying anything. I’m the worst.’’

He shook his head lightly. ‘‘It’s okay, I get it. I also escaped Eureka as soon as I physically could. She can be frightening.’’

Serena could agree with that. ‘‘I feel bad for Clemont now, he probably won’t get any sleep tonight with Eureka gushing about us.’’

Satoshi nodded. ‘‘It’s great she’s so happy about us, though.’’

They smiled at each other once again before averting their gazes.

The question lingered in the air.

What are we, exactly?

No matter how scared Serena was, she recognized she had to take the initiative. She knew Satoshi had already done a lot for their relationship and all of the changes that had happened that day were mostly thanks to him. He did what she had thought he might never do. Not because she had thought he might never love her back, but because she had thought he might never realize he did. But he had realized, and he had acted on it. He had reached and poured his heart out to her. Whatever obliviousness he’d had was gone… almost entirely, at least. He was still the same enthusiastic, optimistic boy with a passion for Pokémon Battles she had known from the start, and she was grateful for that. That meant, however, that he probably didn’t even realize they had to ‘make it official’.

So Serena would be there to guide him. She was glad she didn’t need to do all the work, though. In the end, they would work together to whatever it was the future had in store for them, and they would overcome everything on their way.

‘‘I trust you, Satoshi,’’ she said without thinking, though she didn’t regret it one bit. Satoshi was surprised by her sudden words, but could sense she was going to continue. ‘‘I’ve trusted you ever since we first met, and I will continue to trust you as we grow into better people. And what you said in the forest makes me think that… you also want us to grow into better people… together, right?’’

Satoshi held her hands and nodded cheerfully. ‘‘Of course! I want you to be with me every step of the way, and I’ll be with you the whole time too.’’

Serena bit her lower lip as she tried to contain her smile. ‘‘Yes,’’ she said with a nod. ‘‘So, um, we’re best friends, right?’’

‘‘Totally!’’

‘‘But there might be a problem here.’’

Satoshi was confused. ‘‘What kind of problem?’’

‘‘Best friends usually don’t…’’ She knew she was full-on blushing again just by the thought of what she had to say, but then again, she had to say it. ‘‘They don’t kiss each other like we did in the forest. And they don’t hold each other tightly like we did, and… If they say ‘I love you’, they don’t mean it in the way you did.’’

He was even more puzzled. His confusion grew into concern soon after. ‘‘So you’re saying we aren’t best friends?’’

Serena shook her head with a smile. ‘‘We are. We will always be. The thing is that we aren’t just best friends. There’s a deeper, different feeling there.’’

Satoshi’s eyebrows rose as he seemed to understand what she was getting at. ‘‘You mean that me saying that I love you changed everything?’’ She nodded, flushing. ‘‘I think I get it. It has to do with this selfishness that I feel toward you, doesn’t it? I feel like I want to be closer to you than any other friend you have and I want you to be closer to me than any other of my friends.’’

Serena needed to give this boy some points. He was actually getting it. ‘‘Y–yeah, that’s exactly it! You see, when two people love each other as more than friends, they start dating.’’ Satoshi nodded, indicating he was following. ‘‘And when two people are dating, other people refer to them as boyfriend and girlfriend.’’

Satoshi blinked. And then he did it again. When Serena was starting to worry that she had finally lost him in her explanation, his face lit up. ‘‘Ohhh, so that’s what people mean with those words. I always heard them during my travels but I never really understood what was so interesting about a friend who’s a girl and why people needed a new word for it. Why say ‘girlfriend’ if ‘friend’ already existed, y’know?’’

‘‘Your love for Pokémon Battles really made you so clueless,’’ Serena said with amusement. Satoshi was one of the smartest people when it came to Pokémon Battles and even Pokémon in general, but outside of that field, he could sometimes be like a child.

A child doesn’t kiss the way he does, though, her mind provided all of a sudden, making her squeal with mortification.

Luckily, Satoshi was too distracted thinking about the new meaning the romantic terms now had to him to notice Serena sounding like a boiling kettle. She was barely starting to recover when he smiled widely at her.

‘‘So, we’re boyfriend and girlfriend, right? Is that how it works?’’

Serena stared, trying to look at him in the eye, not allowing her gaze to go any lower (namely, to his lips). ‘‘Y–yes. You’re a quick learner, haha.’’ He learned to kiss you just as fast.

Damn it, mind!

Satoshi beamed at her. ‘‘You’re my girlfriend, then! That sounds great. It has a nice ring to it, if I might say so myself.’’

Serena finally calmed down to smile back at the adorable boy in front of her, and whispered the words she had never thought would become a fact, ‘‘And you’re my boyfriend… Satoshi.’’

It feels so natural to say that, she thought.

And then she yawned loudly.

Satoshi stared at her with surprise. Her cheeks went back to their almost permanent red color (if the past few days were anything to go by). ‘‘I’m so sorry, Satoshi! This isn’t boring at all, this is actually the most exciting thing I’ve experienced in a long time.’’

Satoshi chuckled. ‘‘We gotta stop going to sleep so late. And yes, this is very exciting!’’ He stood up from the bed and stretched. ‘‘Welp, I guess it’s time for me to let you sleep peacefully. Have a goodnight, Serena.’’

Serena grabbed his wrist before he could walk too far from her bed. Before he could ask what was happening, she pulled him back down and kissed him on the lips. When she moved back, she was pleased to see his flustered, blushing face.

‘‘Goodnight, my future Pokémon Master.’’

He blushed even harder at her words, so much she began to laugh. ‘‘Are you okay?’’

Satoshi took some seconds to nod. Serena was too distracted laughing to realize he was going to take his revenge right there.

Suddenly, he lowered down to meet her lips, shutting her up immediately. He kissed her ardently for five whole seconds, during which she remained in utter shock, before he pulled back.

‘‘Goodnight, my future Kalos Queen.’’

He beamed at her once more before he opened the door and went out of the room.

Serena remained still, staring at the place where Satoshi had been.

She slowly raised her hands to her lips… before she launched herself on her pillow and screamed her lungs out.

The following day

The police station of Akitare city seemed like a nice place, at least for anyone who wasn’t behind bars inside said station.

They arrived and entered, heading straight for the main office. There, an Officer Jenny greeted them on sight.

‘‘I’m glad to see all of you are doing okay,’’ she said with a kind smile. She was the same Officer Jenny who had attempted to arrest Satoshi at the beginning and who had later intervened in the warehouse and contacted Professor Sycamore by Clemont’s request. The group could say they were well acquainted with her.

‘‘We’re glad to see you too,’’ Satoshi said. On his shoulder, Pikachu waved hello to Jenny. ‘‘So, he’s still here, isn’t he?’’ Satoshi asked, straight to business. No one needed him to specify whom he was talking about.

Jenny nodded solemnly. ‘‘My coworkers and I have been arranging the paperwork these last few days, and today he’ll finally be taken to the biggest jail in the Pokyo prefecture. You all can rest assured that he won’t be able to cause harm anymore.’’

‘‘Thank you for your hard work,’’ Clemont said, bowing. Eureka did the same, following her older brother’s example. Jenny shook her head.

‘‘You did all the hard work. You did everything in your power to save your friends, and that is telling of how close you are.’’

‘‘Even then,’’ Serena said, ‘‘I’d like to thank you for making sure I was safe, and also for going the extra mile to ensure Satoshi’s well-being.’’

Satoshi took her hand in his and they gave each other a meaningful look. He then turned back at Jenny. ‘‘May we give him a quick visit before he’s gone?’’

Jenny looked like she had been expecting that question. ‘‘You may. A police officer will watch the whole time, so you don’t need to worry. He’s harmless.’’

They nodded. ‘‘Thanks again, Officer Jenny.’’

‘‘It’s my job, isn’t it? My coworker here will guide you.’’

They stopped once they were in front of the door that led to the prison cells. Officer Jenny’s coworker nodded at them before going back to his spot in front of the main office.

‘‘Is this the same police station you were taken to?’’ Serena asked, breaking the silence.

‘‘Ironically enough, it is,’’ Satoshi replied. ‘‘I personally didn’t need any guidance to get to this room, as I’ve been here before. He probably spent his nights in the same cell I spent mine when I was here.’’

‘‘You two are nothing alike, though,’’ Serena said. They were still holding hands. She gave his hand a soft squeeze and smiled at him. His face softened upon seeing her and he squeezed back. They turned at the siblings, who were also smiling at the interaction. Serena addressed the younger sibling. ‘‘So you’re sure you’ll wait out here with Clemont, Eureka?’’

Eureka nodded earnestly. ‘‘I already told that meanie everything I needed to when Squishy, Dedenne and I stopped him.’’

Clemont placed a hand on his sister’s shoulder, expression full of pride. ‘‘And I’m sure you were amazing, Eureka.’’

‘‘Well, if you will stay here,’’ Serena said, ‘‘will you take care of my straw hat for me?’’ She took the straw hat Satoshi had bought for their moment in the forest and had subsequently given to her with her free hand, offering it to Eureka. The blonde girl nodded excitedly, taking the hat and putting it on her head.

‘‘Of course!’’ She looked up at her brother. ‘‘How do I look, Clemont?’’

Clemont chuckled. ‘‘You probably look a lot like Serena did when she was your age.’’

Eureka beamed at that. Dedenne and Squishy also voiced their agreement from her bag, complimenting the way she looked with the straw hat on.

Satoshi and Serena watched her fondly before looking back at each other.

‘‘Are you sure you want to do this?’’ Satoshi asked.

‘‘I know I’m safe if you’re with me,’’ Serena answered, lacing their fingers together. ‘‘And this is the closure we need. I’m sure you want to say more things to him than I do,’’ she added with a grin.

Satoshi couldn’t exactly deny that.

‘‘Pika,’’ Pikachu said from Satoshi’s shoulder before he hopped to the floor and looked at them with determination. Let’s go.

After a final nod, Satoshi opened the door and they stepped into the cell room. As the police station wasn’t big, there were only about a dozen small cells. A police officer was standing next to the door, a Manectric sitting beside him. He acknowledged the pair as they made their way toward one of the middle cells. Satoshi’s expression let Serena know it was indeed the same cell he had spent the night inside of as they approached.

The Kecleon was right there, wearing a provisional uniform that preluded the prison uniform he would wear in Pokyo. Serena was confused about his completely different appearance before she realized she had never seen him outside of his disguise while he impersonated Satoshi.

The real Kecleon had beige blond hair and blue eyes with a tint of orange around the pupils. Serena had to admit the guy wasn’t exactly bad-looking at first sight; however, he completely lacked the warmth that would make any person appear approachable and kind. He lacked the bubbling warmth and gentleness that were so abundant in Satoshi’s soul. The self-tanner he’d had on to imitate Satoshi’s natural tan had been removed and his natural skin was almost as pale as his hair.

They hadn’t remembered to ask Officer Jenny what The Kecleon’s real name was. They didn’t want to know, anyway.

He was sitting with his back against the wall and had been looking into the void until they stopped in front of his cell. He looked bored when his eyes set on them. He somehow looked even more bored when he recognized them. They all stared in silence for some minutes until The Kecleon sighed.

‘‘Say it already and get this over with.’’

Pikachu climbed on Serena’s shoulder and they shared a look before they turned to Satoshi. The raven-haired was slightly frowning at The Kecleon, and Serena knew he was doing his best not to let his frown turn into a full-on glare. Letting what he did get to them and develop emotions like hate would only lower them to the guy’s level, after all.

‘‘We aren’t here to tell you to screw yourself,’’ Serena said, breaking the silence and surprising Satoshi and Pikachu. The Kecleon continued to look at her impassively. ‘‘What would that do for us, right? We’re just here to see you before you go,’’ she simply added.

‘‘Why? Are we best buddies now or something?’’ The Kecleon scoffed. Serena felt Satoshi’s grip on her hand tightened.

‘‘You’d only be able to get near her over my dead bod—’’

‘‘Hey, Satoshi, let’s not do that, okay?’’ she interrupted softly. Satoshi sighed and nodded, knowing that they had already talked about what they were going to do.

When Serena turned back at The Kecleon, she was surprised to see the ghost of a smile on his face, as though Serena having to calm Satoshi down was amusing to him. She shook that thought off her mind and addressed the man.

‘‘No, we’re certainly not friends, that’s right. And I’ll admit Satoshi and I aren’t total angels either. I guess showing up here is our bitter way of saying, hey, we’re still here, alive and kicking. No matter what you did to us, we’re still here, and we’re moving on with our lives. But I guess you already knew that, didn’t you?’’

Pikachu snickered from her shoulder. ‘‘He should’ve thought twice before messing with the ultimate Kalos gang,’’ he said. ‘‘We’re kinda used to be on the move because of the members of a certain evil organization following us around so I guess you could say we’re veterans.’’

Serena chuckled, happy to see Satoshi was also amused by Pikachu’s words. The Kecleon was looking at them like they were insane for laughing at a Pokémon’s (normally) indiscernible speech. Of course he wouldn’t get it; he didn’t have what it took to form such a strong bond with any of his Pokémon. They had been there only to serve his commands and wishes, and not to have a true relationship based on respect and equality.

‘‘Great,’’ The Kecleon commented, rolling his eyes. ‘‘This is my punishment for meddling with the loony kids.’’

Serena shook her head and sighed. She knew The Kecleon wouldn’t care less about what they would say to him, but she had still wanted to tell him. They had won, and they had the right to announce their victory by themselves, didn’t they?

‘‘Well, that was all I had to say. Enjoy your life in prison,’’ she said, turning to leave. She was still holding hands with Satoshi, and that was exactly what stopped her when she couldn’t move forward and noticed he wasn’t moving from his spot.

‘‘I’m not over yet,’’ Satoshi said. Serena and Pikachu exchanged a look as Serena walked back to him.

The Kecleon raised an eyebrow at him, but didn’t seem as bored as before. Serena realized that even he, a confirmed despicable person, could acknowledge Satoshi’s strength in battle, a strength that was enough to match and then defeat him. ‘‘Spit it out, kid, I don’t have all day,’’ the blond said.

‘‘Oh, I’m pretty sure you’ll have all the time in the world in your new home,’’ Satoshi said. Serena was surprised to see he was smiling, as if whatever he was about to say was pleasing to him. ‘‘Remember what you said the first time you tried to ‘negotiate’ with me?’’ he asked the criminal in the cell in front of him.

The Kecleon looked between disinterested and just plain confused. Serena could share that last feeling, as she had no idea what he was referring to with that. She didn’t remember most of the words anyone said that day anyway, her concussion had taken away all of her capability to stay focused. Pikachu frowned slightly as he tried to remember.

‘‘No,’’ The Kecleon simply said.

Satoshi seemed to expect that answer, and continued like the question had been rhetorical from the start. ‘‘You said you’d give me back my girlfriend if I gave you Pikachu.’’

Serena’s eyebrows rose high. ‘‘Eh?’’ She absolutely did not remember that.

‘‘Oh yeah he actually did,’’ Pikachu said, growing amused. ‘‘Satoshi was so mad. To this day I’m still not sure if he fought just to save you or also to protect your honor.’’

Serena gaped at Pikachu. She hadn’t planned on blushing in front of The Kecleon, of all people, during this visit. Her heart skipped a beat when Satoshi smirked at her.

‘‘As I told Serena last night, I didn’t know what the word meant at the time. I just knew I didn’t want him or his Pokémon anywhere near you.’’ He turned at The Kecleon. ‘‘It’s funny, really. Now I get what it means, and I can say that Serena was not my girlfriend at the time of your little business proposal. But if even you could see what this is,’’ he said as he raised their intertwined hands to let The Kecleon see, surprising Serena, ‘‘then I really was clueless for too long.’’ Satoshi grinned at Serena as he lifted the hands a little more so they reached his lips. He kept his warm eyes on her as he gently deposited a kiss on the back of her hand. ‘‘But I’m happy we pushed through. Maybe my girlfriend and I should thank you for that, Kecleon.’’

Serena gazed back at Satoshi as her heart melted. Satoshi wasn’t one to brag, but of course he would feel victorious enough to do it in this situation. She was still astonished at the fact he had decided to brag about her loving him back, though. Just a week ago, she wouldn’t have thought he would do something like that. Life truly has a gift for surprising you.

Pikachu was visibly brimming with joy as he looked at the two teenagers. ‘‘You guys didn’t tell me you had made it official! I’ll gladly be your best man, Satoshi.’’

Satoshi tilted his head with confusion. ‘‘You’re already my best man?’’

As Pikachu stared in disbelief at Satoshi’s obliviousness, Serena giggled. Wedding terms were probably even more foreign to him than the whole dating concept had been.

‘‘Okay, now I’m genuinely being tortured right now,’’ The Kecleon said, making everyone turn at him quizzically. His eyes looked even more devoid of life than before. ‘‘This is the sappiest thing I’ve ever seen, and I’ve spied hundreds of people in all my time as a criminal. I will call the guard over if you move one inch closer to each other. I know my rights.’’

Satoshi, Serena and Pikachu blinked at him.

Satoshi was very quick to smirk.

‘‘So,’’ he began as he started to lean his face closer to Serena’s, ‘‘what would you do if we kissed?’’

‘‘Guard,’’ The Kecleon said frantically, raising his voice for the first time, ‘‘why are y’all taking so damn long with the transfer? I want to get out of here right now.’’

The gang laughed wholeheartedly as Satoshi puckered up his lips and threatened to kiss Serena in from of a very disgusted criminal. The guard was watching the exchange from his spot next to the door, not really knowing how to act in that situation.

Serena didn’t know how they got there, but she ended up laughing right next to Satoshi as their cheeks touched. She could feel the smiling muscles on Satoshi’s face moving as he vibrated with his own laughter.

‘‘Okay, I’ll take pity on you,’’ Satoshi said, backing off from Serena slightly. ‘‘I’ll only kiss her on the nose,’’ he added before swiftly pressing his lips on the tip of her nose. Serena quickly answered in kind, kissing him on his slightly pointier nose. They beamed at each other.

‘‘You call that pity? That’s even more disgusting. Guard.’’

‘‘Pika pikachu pi.’’

Satoshi smirked at The Kecleon. ‘‘Pikachu asks if a Thunderbolt from him would be less painful than watching us.’’

The Kecleon actually nodded at that. ‘‘You know what, it most likely is.’’

Serena took Pikachu in her arms. ‘‘Don’t you even think about it, young mouse.’’

Pikachu pouted. ‘‘Oww. But I’ve been wanting to do that since we met him.’’

Satoshi shrugged. ‘‘Sorry, buddy. Serena doesn’t approve of our methods.’’

‘‘That figures. You could continue torturing him with a kiss on the forehead, though.’’

‘‘A kiss on the forehead, you said?’’ Satoshi commented casually, causing The Kecleon to glare at him again. ‘‘We could work with that.’’

‘‘Don’t you even dare.’’

Serena shook her head. ‘‘No matter how much of a bond we have, I’ll never understand men.’’

They were still laughing when they walked out of the cell room. Their laughter came back with full force after they saw what the Lumiose siblings were up to.

Clemont and Eureka were struggling as Eureka tried to make her brother try on the straw hat. Clemont was standing tall, not allowing his little sister to reach his head.

‘‘Eureka, I’ve told you a million times, I don’t want to wear it!’’

‘‘Come on! I bet you’ll look cute! Satoshi and Serena wore it, you’re the only one left!’’

After Satoshi released a brief, amused cough, the siblings turned at the sound and realized their friends were back from the cell room. Clemont smiled at them when he noticed they looked positive even after their visit to The Kecleon.

‘‘Hey, guys. I take it we’re ready to go, then—’’

Clemont stopped talking when he felt something landing on his head. He looked up and became horrified when he realized Eureka had managed to climb on a nearby shelf and had used his distraction as her opportunity to lay the hat on his hair.

‘‘Gotcha!’’ the mischievous blonde said before she began to cackle. ‘‘I told you you’d look cute!’’

Clemont blushed deep red and went stiff when Satoshi, Serena and Pikachu joined Eureka in her laughter.

‘‘That’s quite a charming look you have, Mr. Clemont!’’ Serena said.

Clemont lowered the brim of the hat to cover his face. ‘‘Can we go now? ’’

Satoshi winked. ‘‘Of course! Anything Mr. Clemont desires.’’

Clemont (for once) led the way as they bid goodbye to Officer Jenny and stepped out of the police station.

‘‘Now that that’s out of the way,’’ Pikachu said, still in Serena’s arms, ‘‘can I get a bottle of ketch—’’

‘‘No,’’ Satoshi replied. ‘‘Wait ‘til we reach the next city.’’

‘‘Oh, okay. I guess that you wouldn’t mind me telling Serena stories about our nightly conversations in the meantime, would you?’’

Nightly conversations? Serena wondered mentally.

Satoshi tensed, but tried to appear nonchalant as they kept walking. ‘‘Nah. I don’t mind at all.’’

Pikachu shrugged before he looked up at Serena. ‘‘Hey, come to think of it, have you continued to use your shampoo since you came out of the hospital? The one with the flowery scent?’’

Serena was confused. ‘‘My shampoo? Um, yeah, I guess?’’

‘‘No wonder Satoshi can’t stay away from you. He adores it when you smell like flowers, I have no idea why.’’

When they both turned at Satoshi, they found him frozen on the spot. Serena blushed deeper and Pikachu’s smirk widened when they noticed he was standing particularly close to Serena, almost nuzzling her hair. He slowly moved his face away, pretending he hadn’t just been caught in the act.

‘‘Come to think of it,’’ Serena said, ‘‘the first time we talked in the hospital, Satoshi was sad because I didn’t ‘smell like flowers’.’’

Clemont and Eureka had been walking in front of them and had only been able to hear Satoshi and Serena’s part of the conversation, but that was enough for Eureka to grin teasingly at Satoshi.

‘‘Really smooth,’’ she said, prompting Pikachu to burst out laughing. Clemont was about to tell her not to tease Satoshi when he noticed how red the raven-haired was getting.

I’ll take this as my revenge, Clemont thought with a casual shrug. Satoshi noticed Clemont’s lack of support for his current situation and pouted at him.

‘‘Clemont! You’re the only one I have left! Even my supposed best friend has abandoned me!’’

‘‘I’m sorry, my ears have decided to stop functioning all of a sudden, I can’t hear what you’re saying.’’

‘‘Clemont!’’

Pikachu perked up. ‘‘Oh, Serena, I haven’t told you about the actual conversations Satoshi and I have at night. So, you know how Satoshi usually acts funny when he gets sick? Well, there was this time he got a cold and he said he really enjoyed how you moved in your performance dresses—’’

‘‘Okay, that’s it. All of you are officially out of my journey. Now it’s just Serena and me traveling. I’m out.’’

‘‘Oww, even after everything we’ve lived together?’’

‘‘I bet you’ll enjoy your wild life in Kalos. You could even join that guy that likes making movies with the hundred Pikachu he has. Let’s go, Serena.’’

Serena giggled. ‘‘Coming.’’

Pikachu climbed on Serena’s shoulder and looked at Satoshi defiantly. ‘‘What if I decide she’s going to be my trainer now? That would be her decision, not yours.’’

‘‘I’m sure Serena will choose me over you, won’t you, Serena?’’

‘‘You guys are the worse. Don’t make me choose between you!’’

‘‘Come on! I have boyfriend privileges, right?’’

‘‘I…’’ Serena’s cheeks turned pink and Pikachu sighed, knowing Satoshi had won the match.

‘‘Wait, did you just say boyfriend?!’’ Eureka exclaimed, jumping around. ‘‘When did you guys make it official?!’’

‘‘That’s what I’ve been saying!’’ Pikachu said, joining her in her little celebration dance. Dedenne did too as he got out of her bag. Squishy watched them, not knowing if he should also join them in their antics or just stay as a voice of reason to make sure they wouldn’t go overboard.

Serena shrugged at Clemont’s curious expression with amusement. She then felt Satoshi’s hand squeezing hers and looked at him. ‘‘Ready to continue our journey together, Queen?’’

She smiled back, nodding. ‘‘I’ll go where you go, Pokémon Master.’’