A Journey's Link

Chapter 38 - Passion

Everyone left the Anistar City Gym, with Ash staying back for a moment so Olympia could speak to him about something specific. He had no clue what exactly she wanted to talk about, as he wanted to go train for whatever threat they were about to encounter, but reluctantly agreed and told his friends to go on ahead.

Serena walked out first and turned around, looking at everyone. "So, what should we do?" she asked, looking for any ideas while they waited outside. Goh thought for a moment and turned to Miette, who was quietly standing by innocently. "I have an idea," he said while looking at Miette. "You should introduce us."

Serena looked over at Miette, who shrugged in response to having to be introduced to new people. "That's Miette," Serena said, gesturing towards the blue-haired performer. "She's a performer, and a pretty good one, too." Serena was under the impression that Miette didn't like Ash, so she was a lot more friendly toward Miette.

Miette waved at Goh and Chloe, who both decided to introduce themselves. "I'm Goh!" Goh exclaimed, stepping forwards as he did so. "I'm a Research Fellow at Cerise Laboratories! It's nice to meet you!" Miette smiled and nodded, then turned to Chloe. "I'm Chloe," she said gently. "I'm not sure what I want to do, but I like Performances, so I might do that."

Serena smiled at Chloe, who seemed nervous to admit this, and turned back to Miette. "So, are you gonna get a room at the Pokemon Center?" She knew that since Miette was going to be competing in the Performance Showcase tomorrow that she was going to have to get a place to stay. Miette shook her head and looked towards the City.

"I have a relative that lives here, so I've agreed to stay with them for the night," Miette explained. The truth was that she wished she could've gotten a room in the Center; not only would she be close to friends, but it would also present an opportunity to catch up with Ash and see what he had been doing since leaving Kalos.

"That's nice," Serena said, attempting small talk. "I guess you two can go book rooms for us while Miette and I catch up?" Serena asked Goh and Chloe. They looked at each other and shrugged, saying, "Sure. Why not?" and began to walk in the direction of the Pokemon Center to get their rooms for the night.

"How's the Coordinator's life?" Miette asked, catching Serena off guard. Miette saw her shocked expression and sarcastically said, "Don't act like I wouldn't know about you going to Hoenn. I talk to people." Serena giggled a little bit at Miette's banter and answered her question.

"It was lots of fun!" Serena exclaimed honestly. "I got to meet lots of new and talented people and I collected a few ribbons!" She pulled out the Ribbon Case that she had received when she signed up for her first Contest where she met May. She opened her case and saw three ribbons displayed in front of her, all three with their unique color and style.

"Wow!" Miette exclaimed, peeking into the case. "Three ribbons!" She looked back up at Serena and smirked. "I guess you had a motivating factor to keep you going, huh?" Serena intensely blushed upon hearing this and quickly stuffed away her case. "Be quiet," she whispered, fumbling to come back with a rebuttal.

"Tell me about your performances," Serena said, showing interest in Miette's aspirations, but also trying to avert the conversation from Ash. "Surely you must have done so much, as well!" Miette nodded and brought out a picture. She showed Serena, who was surprised to see who stood beside Miette.

"Is that Aria?" Serena asked, squinting to get a better look. Miette proudly smiled and nodded. "Yep, that's her. The Kalos Queen." She fondly looked at the picture as she began telling a story. "I went up against her in the Showcase Finals, but she barely beat me..."

[-]

Ash stood before Olympia, patiently waiting as the Gym Leader stared at him for a while. "You said you wanted to talk to me?" Ash asked, breaking the awkward silence. It had been almost ten minutes of him and Olympia simply staring at each other, with Ash anticipating the next words to escape her mouth.