A Journey's Link

Chapter 76 - Forward

"It's cold outside. Wear a jacket."

This is what Serena's mom, Grace, said to the Performer, who was still dozing in bed after a long day of training yesterday. She and Pancham had managed to perfect a maneuver involving his sunglasses, something that would surely get her a higher placement in Performances.

Grace stared at Serena, who was under the covers, a little longer before walking away to tend to their Rhyhorn. After a few minutes, Serena finally pushed the covers off of her body, staring at the ceiling. Fletchling had come to wake her up an hour ago, but she just went back to sleep after it had left her alone.

Sitting up in her bed, she stared at her daily outfit and sighed as she knew she was going to have to put it on as soon as possible to make sure she didn't miss training. Walking over to the mirror that her outfit hung on, Serena noticed a neatly folded paper on her dresser sitting out in the open.

She knew exactly what words were written on that small paper and what it entailed. She quietly ran her finger over the outside of it, thinking how badly she wanted Ash to be alongside her. "Serena, honey! Come get your food!" Her mother yelled up the stairs, breaking her thoughts.

"Coming!" Serena yelled back, quickly changing into her daily clothes. Grabbing her Pokeballs and running down the stairs, Grace greeted her. "Look who decided to finally get out of bed!" She exclaimed in a fake shocked voice. Serena stuck out her tongue in response and grabbed a chocolate muffin from the counter.

"Don't forget to be here for lunch!" Grace yelled out as Serena opened the glass sliding door and ran out into her open field. Since her mom was a Rhyhorn racer, she had access to a wide field of grass where she was able to practice with her Pokemon for her Performances.

Serena had decided to go back home to Kalos by herself a few days after Ash had left. There were a few days where hope was drawn out that he would return, but everyone, including Serena, had quickly discovered that they would have to just keep on going and pursue their passion in life. Serena knew that most people had ended up going back to their hometown, but hadn't contacted them in the three months that had passed since that had happened.

The wind blew against Serena's hair, which she had let grow out over the past few months, as she stood in the middle of the field. "Come on out!" She exclaimed as she tossed her Pokémon's Pokeballs in the air, releasing them in front of her. Braixen, Pancham, and Sylveon all stood in front of her, smiling as another day of Performance training was on the horizon.

"How is everyone doing?" Serena asked her Pokemon, receiving cries of happiness and energy for the day. She smiled and responded, "Great! So let's get to work!" Pointing towards another section in the field, she instructed Braixen and Sylveon to go work on combining the moves Flamethrower and Swift, since they had discovered it created beautiful fire-covered stars.

"Alright, Pancham," Serena said, turning towards the small panda Pokemon. "Let's work on that trick we discovered with your glasses!" Pancham gave her a thumbs up and took off his sunglasses. The trick she was referring to was something quite simple. By using a weak Dark Pulse, Pancham was able to create a darker tone to the glasses that glowed, which was useful in dark shows.

"Just make sure you don't overdo it on the attack," Serena advised as she set Pancham's glasses onto the ground and watched as he focused his energy into a small Dark Pulse. Sending it towards the glasses, Serena watched as the move bounced off of the glasses and failed to cover the outside of them. "So close!" Serena exclaimed. "Keep on trying!"

Pancham nodded and turned back to his glasses. She got up and sighed, turning around and facing the vast, empty field. I wonder what Ash is doing right now? She thought in a bittersweet manner. As if it was listening, the wind responded with a small breeze onto her face, pushing her hair out of her face.