Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Pokémon. They don't belong to me and never will belong to me. Sadface. :(

"Morning Serena! Sleep well?"

Serena, a girl with blue eyes, honey-like brown hair, and a pink hat over her hair, walked into the kitchen of her small house in Vaniville Town. She responded to her mother's greeting with a yawn as she slowly walked over to the dining table. Serena took a seat next to her mother and looked down to the pancakes that she had made for breakfast.

"Morning." Serena properly greeted her mother with a smile. She then yawned again before continuing to speak. "How long was I asleep for? I think I overslept."

"Hmm… about nine hours? Ten hours?" Her mother shrugged, unsure of the answer.

"Really?" The girl's eyes widened at her mother's answer. "You let me sleep in that long?"

Usually, Serena would get only seven hours of sleep. If she didn't get out of bed early enough in the day, her mother would send her Fletchling to wake her up. The mother and daughter usually spent their mornings helping Serena practice with her 'Rhyhorn Racing'. The hours spent practicing were difficult and frustrating to Serena, who wasn't particularly sure if she would even pursue racing, but it was part of her routine. To hear that her mother let her sleep in so long and miss time practicing surprised the girl.

"Yeah. I felt like you deserved a break. We've been working hard these past few days, so I felt you deserved at least one day to sleep in." Her mother told her with a laugh. She then gave her daughter a curious look. "You don't have plans today, do you?"

"Plans? No." The honey-like haired girl shook her head with a sigh.

Unless she was training with her mother, she never really had plans with other people. If she were being completely honest, she didn't really have many friends in Vaniville Town, or in Kalos in general. The only friends she truly had were from years ago when she lived in Kanto.

'Ash…' She thought to herself sadly. '… I wonder how you are doing these days. Certainly things are more exciting for you than they are for me.'

"Serena? Did you hear me?" Her mother questioned her daughter.

Immediately, the girl shook her head, pushing her thoughts of 'Ash' to the side.

"S-Sorry about that Mom. I was just remembering something." Serena said with a nervous laugh. "What did you ask me again?"

"I asked if you'd like to come with me to a friend's house. You know our new neighbors?" Her mother questioned again.

'New neighbors…' Serena repeated the phrase in her head for a moment before realization dawned on her. "Oh! You mean that boy and his Mom who just moved in about a month ago."

"Yeah, that's who I'm talking about: Calem and his mother, Hope." Her mother nodded in response. A smile developed on her face. "Hope and I became good friends since they moved in. Turns out she and her son are big fans of Pokémon Battles, and they invited us to come over and watch the Lily of the Valley Conference with them."

'Lily of the Valley…' Serena knew the name. It was the Pokémon League Conference that occurred in the Sinnoh Region. She remembered watching the Kalos League Conference the previous year on television and thought some of the battles were actually pretty cool. '… Eh, why not? I'm not doing anything else today.'

"Sure, I'll come with you." She told her mother with a smile.

"Great!" Her mother clapped her hands together, expressing her approval. "Then finish eating breakfast and get dressed. The matches are starting around noon, so we can get there in time."

The girl nodded and proceeded to start eating her pancakes. Once she finished, she dismissed herself from the room and proceeded to get dressed.

'Wonder what types of trainers made it to the conference this year?' Serena thought to herself as she put on her standard outfit: a black blouse and a red skirt.

Serena and her mother arrived shortly after at their neighbor's house. It was a house of similar size and colors. Most of the houses in Vaniville Town looked identical to each other. It gave the town a simple feeling to it, but in Serena's mind, it added to the boringness of the area.

The mother and daughter knocked on the door to the house and waited outside patiently. A few seconds passed before they were greeted by a woman with short brown hair and green eyes. She was dressed in a white blouse and a pair of black pants. She looked at the girls at her doorstep and smiled brightly, stepping out of the way so they could enter her home.

"How are you doing Hope?" Serena's mother greeted the woman with a smile of her own.

"Doing great Grace. You made it just in time! And I see you brought your daughter." The woman, Hope, greeted them.

"Yeah, this is Serena." Grace introduced her daughter, who have a wave and a quiet 'hello' in response.

"It's nice to finally meet you. Your mother has said so many nice things about you." She said politely. "Come on in you two. Calem has already got the television screen on and the first round of matches has just started."

Serena and Grace nodded as they entered the house. They were escorted to a small, comfy living room with a large red sofa and a wide-screen television. The screen was displaying a match on screen between two trainers in the Lily of the Valley Conference: a boy named Daisuke and another boy named Paul. Sitting on the couch with his eyes glued to the television screen was a boy with a red hat over his black hair wearing a blue jacket with a white stripe going the center and a pair of blue pants. Serena immediately recognized him as Calem.

"You picked a bad time to leave the room, Mom." Calem commented as the three girls entered the room. "Daisuke's already down to his last Pokémon."

"Already? But didn't he just send out his Venusaur?" Hope questioned in surprise.

"Yeah, but Paul's Aggron already fainted it." The boy answered with a sigh. "Paul's probably going to win this one, unfortunately. I hope he loses soon though. I don't like his attitude. He doesn't seem to care about any of the Pokémon in the battle: not even his own."

"What a jerk." Serena mumbled to herself. If Calem was right, then she also hoped that Paul would lose somehow. She had no respect for anybody who mistreated their Pokémon.

Her voice seemed to surprise Calem. He turned his head away from the television screen and noticed her and her mother. He immediately got up from his seat on the couch and walked over to them, extending his hand out to them.

"I'm sorry for not greeting you two when you came in. Hi." He greeted both Grace and Serena. "I'm Calem. It's nice to meet you both."

"Nice to meet you too." Both Serena and Grace replied back. Both girls shook his hand before they, along with him and his mother, sat down on the couch.

Like Calem predicted, Paul managed to defeat his opponent's final Pokémon, a Magneton, and managed to win his match using only one Pokémon. Paul returned his Aggron to its pokéball before he walked off with a smirk on his face.

"Hmph. It says a lot about somebody if you only see them on TV and can already tell they are an asshole." Calem grumbled.

"Calem, we have company over! Watch your language!" Hope scolded her son.

The boy's eyes widened for a second before he looked downward. "Y-Yeah. Sorry…"

Serena giggled in response. She opened her mouth to respond, but the words died on her lips as the television screen changed images. The next match was about to begin and two new trainers were seen on the screen.

The first trainer appeared to be rather eccentric. He was an older boy with long black hair and blue eyes that wore all green. He had a cape and a hat on and was holding a golden harp. He was strumming on the harp as he waited for the match to start. The second trainer was a boy with brown eyes wearing a red hat over his black hair. He was wearing a pair of jeans and had on a black and white jacket with one large golden stripe going across the jacket in the center. There was also a Pikachu standing on the trainer's shoulders.

"A Pikachu, huh?" Calem commented as he looked at the second trainer with interest. "That's always been one of my favorite Pokémon."

Serena was about to comment about the Pikachu as well when she finally started to truly study the second trainer's face. She looked at the screen intently as the image of the boy she knew from Kanto returned to her mind.

'No… There's no way. This is a Sinnoh conference. It can't be him.' She told herself, rejecting those thoughts. '… But could it?'

As if answering her question, a small bar appeared on the screens with close-up pictures of the competing trainers' faces. Underneath their pictures were their names: Nando and Ash Ketchum respectively.

"AH! It is him!" Serena nearly squealed in excitement. A wide smile developed on her face. "That's Ash!"

"You know him?" Hope looked at the girl in surprise. Calem, too, gave the girl a similar look.

"How do you know that boy?" Her mother questioned suspiciously.

"Mom, surely you remember! Back when we lived in Kanto and you forced me to go that summer camp that was run by Professor Oak." Serena clarified for her mother.

"Yeah, I remember. You told me that story a couple of times. You really didn't like the camp at first, but then you met that boy-" Grace's eyes widened in realization as she studied 'Ash's' in more detail. A grin developed on her face. "Well, how about that. That is him. Looks like he's become a pretty powerful Pokémon trainer to qualify for a conference in Sinnoh."

"So you went to camp with him when you were little kids? You know a good Pokémon trainer like him?" Calem questioned as he looked to Serena in excitement. "What's he like? What kind of trainer is he?"

"Uh, well, I don't know." Serena sighed, frowning in response. "I haven't talked to him since Mom and I moved to Kalos. I don't even know if he remembers me."

'… He has to remember me, right? We were best friends back at the camp…' Serena wondered to herself sadly. She then shook her head, pushing those thoughts to the side as she concentrated on the television screen. 'That doesn't matter right now. What matters is that I know what he's up to now! He's become a strong Pokémon trainer. And he looks older…' A blush developed on Serena's cheeks as she continued to study him. 'Ash… it's been so long. I'm so glad to see how you are doing.'

Both Nando and Ash sent out a Roserade and Staraptor respectively, beginning their battle. Serena remained tense as she watched the television screen intently: even more intently than Calem and their parents. She becomes excited seeing Ash's Staraptor knock out the Roserade and becomes nervous when Nando sends out an Armaldo that beats the Staraptor. Her nerves continue to grow until she finally sees Ash's Heracross defeat Nando's Kricketune, knocking out his opponent's final Pokémon. Ash is, subsequently, declared the victor of the match.

"He won!" Serena exclaimed happily as she brought her hands to her heart. "Thank goodness."

The Heracross that Ash used in the battle flew back to his trainer and started sucking on his head affectionately. The trainer laughed as he congratulated his Pokémon for doing a good job.

"He obviously cares about his Pokémon a lot. He seems like a great trainer and a great person." Hope commented with a smile.

"He's a great trainer alright. His Pokémon are really tough." Calem noted with a smirk. "When I start my own adventure, he's somebody I'd like to try and fight."

Serena didn't say anything for a little while. She continued to watch Ash and his Heracross interact on the screen. She smiled as she watched him care for his Pokémon and a blush developed on her cheeks. Her mother was quick to notice it.

"What are you thinking about Serena?" She asked her daughter teasingly.

Serena immediately turned her attention to her mother and started to laugh nervously. "N-Nothing. Nothing at all. I was just thinking about how good it is that Ash won his match."

"Yeah, I'm sure that's all you were thinking about." Grace commented with a sarcastic tone, causing her daughter to blush even further.

The next match began shortly after. Serena watched alongside her mother, Calem, and his mother, but she was significantly less interested in this match. Her thoughts were mostly centered around her childhood friend, his upcoming matches, and how he had been doing these past few years.

The next few days followed the same pattern, as Serena and Grace would come over their neighbors' house to watch the Lily of the Valley Conference. Each day, Serena would look forward to watching Ash on the television screen and seeing more of the Pokémon he managed to catch over the course of his career. Each match, she would get slightly worried that he would lose and she would not see him again on screen, but her fears were all for naught, as Ash managed to win battle after battle. During the previous day, he had managed to defeat Paul, much to Calem's and everyone else's joy.

Today, however, Serena was more nervous than usual. Ash had made it to the semi-finals of the conference and was now against Tobias, the mysterious trainer who, for some reason, had a Darkrai. The announcers and commentators all hyped up the trainer as somebody who managed to defeat all of the Sinnoh gym leaders and all of his opponents with just his Darkrai alone.

After watching him these past few days, Serena knew that Ash was a skilled trainer and was not somebody to be concerned about in battle. Today, due to all the rumors and hype around Tobias, she couldn't help herself to be worried.

The match begins and, as predicted, Tobias sends out his Darkrai. The legendary dark-type Pokémon manages to defeat Ash's Heracross, Torkoal, and Gible. Ash's fourth Pokémon, a Sceptile, manages to land a solid hit with its leaf blade and knocks out the Darkrai. Serena, along with Calem and their mothers, immediately applaud the boy from their seats on the couch.

"That was incredible! That was just…" Hope started, trying to come up with words.

"He beat a legendary Pokémon. He's awesome." Calem praised Ash for his success. He looked at the television screen with a burning passion, feeling the urge to enter the upcoming Kalos League Conference.

'Ash… You're incredible.' Serena blushed as she watched Ash congratulate his Sceptile for the performance.

The cheering from the Kalos watchers stopped, however, once Tobias revealed his second Pokémon: a Latios. They stared at the screen in complete astonishment.

"He has two legendary Pokémon! Who is this guy?" Calem questioned.

"I don't know. I've never heard of a trainer like this before." Grace noted with a sigh. "Ash is going to have his work cut out for him with this. More than we thought, at least."

Tobias's Latios made a strong first impression with the audience, defeating both Ash's Sceptile and Swellow. Ash then sends out his Pikachu as his final Pokémon. The final battle drags on for a few minutes before Pikachu finally manages to make a direct hit on the Latios with its iron tail, but also after taking a direct hit from Latios's luster purge. An explosion occurred and, once the smoke cleared, both Pikachu and Latios were revealed to be knocked out. Since Pikachu was his last available Pokémon, Tobias was immediately declared the victor.

"No!" Serena nearly shouted once the match was called.

The room had gotten quiet after Ash's Pikachu had fainted. Thanks to Serena, the group had become invested in Ash and, considering his success, were all rooting for him to win the entire tournament. To see him lose in the semi-finals upset the Kalos viewers. A few more moments of awkward silence passed by before Grace decided to say her opinion.

"He may not have won, but he did a great job. He managed to defeat two legendary Pokémon, and that's more than I think most people can say ever." She stated with a slight smile.

"… I'd agree." Hope commented. "There's no doubt he proved himself to everyone. He's definitely a trainer that's going to become one of the greats one of these days."

Serena nodded wordlessly to their comments. While she agreed with both her Mom and Calem's mother that Ash was amazing that defeating two legendary Pokémon was a great accomplishment, she was still upset to see her childhood friend lose. What made it worse, though, was that he was probably not going to show up much any longer during the conference. That meant that this could be the last time she sees Ash again.

Her eyes started to develop tears at the thought of not seeing Ash again, but she immediately brought her hands to her eyes and brushed them away. '… I know it was just seeming him on TV, but this was the first time I've seen or heard about Ash in years, and I'm not going to wait that long to see him again.' She told herself. 'I know I'm not going to let myself cry. I'll see him again – only this time, it'll be in person!'

"The only question is how…" She mumbled to herself aloud.

"'How' what?" Calem questioned her.

"Huh?" Serena blinked in surprise, unaware that she had been talking out loud. Once she realized that she had been, she started to blush embarrassment and shake her head. "It's n-nothing. N-Nothing important at all."

Grace eyed her daughter as she laughed nervously. A smile developed on her face as she realized what Serena was most likely thinking.

"You know, the conference posts all the information about the trainers competing on their website. Perhaps you might find something on there so you can communicate with him and tell your friend about how well he did." She told Serena teasingly.

Serena's eyes widened in response as she registered what her mother was saying. A grin then developed on her face.

'Mom's right. There has to something on the website. Like an e-mail address or a phone number or something. I can definitely communicate with him!' Serena told herself happily. '… And maybe even meet up with him.'

Serena and her mother eventually bade farewell to Calem and his mother and went back to their home. Once they returned, Serena rushed to her room and quickly went to her computer.

"Hey Dawn, do you care if I use your computer to send an e-mail to my Mom?" Ash questioned his friend.

The girl, Dawn, nodded in response. "Go right ahead. Although wouldn't it be easier to just call her?"

"I tried, but she didn't answer. So I'm just going to leave her an e-mail." The Pokémon trainer sighed in response. His Pikachu, who had been atop his shoulders, sighed as well.

Dawn nodded in understanding and showed Ash to the computer in her room. Once there, Ash got onto the internet and began signing onto his e-mail to let his mother know what time he was going to be back in Kanto by.

It was a surreal feeling for Ash, knowing that his journey in Sinnoh was nearly complete. He had a great time with both Brock and Dawn on his quest and managed to place higher than he had before in the Pokémon Conference tournament. Although he was disappointed that he ended up losing to Tobias, he knew that he proved himself as a great trainer. He also knew that he had and his Pokémon team were stronger than they ever had before. That thought was able to push back his feeling of disappointment and allowed him to concentrate on the future.

'We're still getting stronger each year. I'm just becoming one step closer to becoming a Pokémon Master.' He told himself with a smirk as he typed in his e-mail address into the sign-in box. He then clicked the button and opened up his e-email.

"Pika?" Pikachu tilted his head in confusion as he looked at the screen. Ash noticed what Pikachu was talking about and his eyes widened at the sight.

"… Wait, what the heck?" He mumbled in shock.

Ash didn't use his e-mail often. He only used it to communicate with his mother, Professor Oak, Misty, and May every once in a while. As a result, he never had many e-mails in his inbox. Now, however, his entire inbox was filled with e-mails.

"You're a popular guy now, aren't you?" Dawn giggled as she looked over Ash's shoulder to the computer screen. "Who are they all from?"

"I don't know! I don't recognize half of these addresses." Ash answered, shaking his head. "Is this what spam is? I don't think I've ever gotten anything like this before."

"It's probably all fan-mail."

Ash and Dawn turned their heads and saw Brock enter the room. The elder Pokémon trainer walked forward to the computer and looked over Ash's shoulder at the screen and chuckled at the sight.

"Yeah, just like I thought. Look at some of the subjects of the e-mails." Brock told him.

Ash did as Brock suggested and looked at some of the subjects. A small smile developed on his face as he read them off.

"'I'm your biggest fan.' 'You were awesome!' 'Way to represent the Kanto region Ash!' 'You are the best trainer ever!'" Ash read off e-mail after e-mail, his eyes widening further in surprise. "… I can't believe so many people were rooting for me! How did they even get my e-mail address?"

"Remember Ash? The Lily of the Valley Conference asked for your information when you signed-up. They must have posted the information online and some of the people watching just had to e-mail you." Dawn told the trainer from Pallet Town. She punched him lightly on the shoulder and giggled. "You earned yourself a fan club with how well you did out there Ash."

"… Heh." Ash chuckled in response. He turned his attention to Pikachu. "Isn't that funny Pikachu? We had this many people rooting for us during the tournament."

"Pi pika Pikachu!" Pikachu cheered in agreement. The electric mouse Pokémon felt happy knowing that they had so much support from people they had never even met. That support meant a lot to both him and his trainer.

"Well, what are you waiting for Ash? Open one of them!" Dawn nearly demanded.

Ash chuckled as he looked through the list of e-mails, looking for one to open first. He read all of the different subjects and was having a hard time deciding which one to open first. Then, however, one e-mail stood out.

Unlike the rest of the e-mails, this one did not have a subject that was overly congratulatory towards him. This one's subject was a plain and simple 'Hello'. It was sent from some girl named 'Serena Paschall'. The name rang a bell in his head, but he couldn't place exactly where. Did he know her?

"Pika." Pikachu grumbled impatiently, wanting Ash to open an e-mail so he could read what people had to say about him and Ash. Sparks of electricity flew from his cheeks as way to express his irritation.

"Ah, sorry." Ash apologized to Pikachu.

He quickly shrugged and decided to open up the e-mail. He, along with Dawn, Brock, and Pikachu, all stared at the computer screen, reading the message.

"Hello Ash. My name's Serena: Serena Paschall. I don't know if you remember me… but we used to be good friends back in Pallet Town. You and I went to the same summer camp that Professor Oak hosted eight years ago. One day, I got lost in the forest and ended up hurting my knee. You found me and helped me get back to the summer camp. We became good friends afterwards. It was only about a week after that camp where I had to move away from Pallet Town to Kalos.

"Yeah, you probably don't remember me. It's kinda not that important nowadays for you guess. I just remembered you when my mother and our neighbors were watching the Lily of the Valley Conference and saw you battling. I just had to reach out to you.

"I also had to tell you that you did an amazing job in the tournament. You were just simply amazing! The bond you and your Pokémon have is really touching – especially the bond between you and your Pikachu. It seemed like the two of you were in sync the entire time you were out there. You did such an amazing job and you had four fans cheering loudly for you here in the small Vaniville Town in Kalos. We even had one person come by and tell us we were being too loud with our cheering! Haha!

"But yeah, you were amazing out there. My neighbor, Calem, won't stop talking about how good of a trainer you were and how much you inspired him with your battle against Paul and Tobias. He's going to start his journey as a Pokémon trainer soon to compete in the Kalos Pokémon League thanks to you.

"I don't really want to be a bother and bore you with things for too long, but I just wanted to say hi and congratulate you on all of your success as a Pokémon trainer. I am so lucky to have met you back when we were kids. You're a great trainer Ash and you really helped me out: both when we are kids and nowadays. I still remember when you told me 'Don't give up until it's over!' and tell myself that sometimes if something's going wrong. It really helps a lot at times.

"You can e-mail back if you want sometime so we can maybe catch up. I'd love to hear more about how you have doing these past eight years! But for now, I don't want to keep you busy for too long. So, I hope you have a good day and, once again, congratulations on doing so well in the conference! Best of luck with whatever your next adventure is!

"Serena."

The room was silent once everybody finished reading the e-mail. Dawn, Brock, and even Pikachu felt a little bad about reading an e-mail that was as personal as that. They looked over to Ash to see if he was going to say anything to them. He did not address them, however. He simply re-read the e-mail again.

A few minutes of silence passed before Dawn decided to speak up.

"Is that somebody you know, Ash?" She asked.

Ash didn't respond immediately. He was trying to recall his time at Professor Oak's Summer Camp. He had not thought much about that day in the past few years, as his life became more focused on his own Pokémon and his training. Now that he was thinking about it, he tried to recall what he did there and who he met.

It took him a few minutes, but he finally started to remember a girl his age with honey-like brown hair with a pink hat that tripped in the middle of the forest because a Poliwag scared her. He remembered her crying and remembered how he helped her by giving her a handkerchief and helping her get out of the forest. As he thought more about it, more memories came back about his time at camp and interacting with the girl.

"… Yeah. I do." Ash finally broke his silence with a smile. "I forgot all about her. It's been so long since I heard from Serena."

"She moved away from Pallet Town shortly after." Brock noted, remembering what the e-mail had said.

Ash's smile quickly developed into a frown. Now that he was thinking intently on the subject, he remembered looking around the town for the girl for a little bit before being told that she and her mother had moved. He even remembered coming home that day to his room and crying his room, thinking that he was never going to see his friend ever again.

'How did I forget about her for so long?' He wondered. He quickly pushed those thoughts away and turned to the e-mail. A smile developed on his face. 'Whatever I guess. I'm remembering now and it's good to see that she's okay and remembers me!'

"Are you going to e-mail her back Ash?" Dawn asked curiously.

"Yeah. It's been a long time since I heard from her. I'd like to take advantage of it and see how she's doing!" Ash replied to his friend.

"Pikapi!" Pikachu exclaimed as it walked over to the keyboard. "Pikachu pi pika Pikachu!"

The Pokémon Trainer from Pallet Town quickly realized what his partner was asking him. He was wanting to meet up with Ash's friend and see what she was like. Ash chuckled at Pikachu's request.

"I'd like to see her too. Maybe we can arrange a meeting sometime. I think it'd be a lot more fun to see her and talk in person than through e-mail." Ash stated. "… Where did she say she lives again? Kalos?"

Ash re-scanned the e-mail, looking for a reference to where his childhood friend was now living exactly. He read the words 'Vaniville Town' in the Kalos region and made a note to remember that. As he was looking through the e-mail once more, he came across another part that stuck out to him: about how Serena's neighbor, Calem, was looking forward to trying to get into the Kalos Pokémon League's conference.

A smirk developed on his face. He was going to look for another conference to try and enter and it seemed like there was one he could enter. Perhaps he'd get to see his friend sooner than later…

"Hey Pikachu? Looks like we have another region to try and take on. What do you say?" He suggested to his partner.

"Pika!" Pikachu nodded his head fervently in agreement.

Immediately, Ash began to type his response back to Serena. Both Dawn and Brock left the room to give him his privacy. They could tell how excited Ash was to hear from his old friend and didn't want to be a bother to him. Ash and Pikachu were left alone as they concentrated on what exactly to say back to Serena.

"He replied!" Serena squealed loudly from her room.

The girl had, admittedly, been checking her e-mail frantically waiting for him to respond. Each time she checked and didn't see the response upset her, as she was starting to get worried that Ash really didn't remember her and thought she was some crazy fan girl or something. Getting the response back finally made her extremely happy and she didn't waste a second to open it.

"Hopefully I didn't sound too much like a weirdo in my last e-mail…" She mumbled to herself as she started to read his response back to her.

"Hey Serena! Yeah, I remember you. I had forgotten for a while, but now I'm remembering everything about the Summer Camp. It really has been that long, huh? Time flies by I guess! I still remember looking around Pallet Town and finding out that you guys had moved. That was kinda a depressing day…"

"He remembered me! He really did!" Serena cheered loudly. A second passed before her cheer vanished and her eyes widened. "He looked for me and Mom when we left?"

Immediately, she felt guilty. She couldn't remember why she never talked to Ash and told him about the move. She didn't even remember why didn't say goodbye to him. Her mother's announcement about the 'move' came as such a surprise to her and was sudden that she didn't have time to properly react at all.

Hearing that Ash had looked for her after she had moved both touched her greatly that he cared for her like that and made her feel incredibly guilty for not seeing him before she left.

More than anything else, though, she was happy that he remembered who she was. She quickly returned her attention back to his e-mail.

"Never mind that, though. How have you been doing? Nothing would be boring for me. I'd love to hear about what you have been doing these past eight years! Are you a Pokémon trainer yourself? Do you have many friends? What's Kalos like? Can you speak another language? Because I remember hearing that the people of Kalos can speak another language that other people don't speak in Kanto or anywhere else!

"Heh… sorry about all of the questions. I just have a lot of things I want to ask you about and catch up with! Thanks again for all the comments about the tournament, by the way. Yeah, my Pokémon did a really good job this year. This is the farthest we've ever gotten in a tournament and I couldn't be more proud of my team. I'm glad to know we had some fans in Kalos!

"Speaking of Kalos, you got me thinking about the Pokémon League there. Your neighbor is going to try and go for it this year? Perhaps I should come to! I don't have any more plans right now, so the idea of trying out for another Pokémon league sounds nice to me!

"… Yeah, I decided. I'm just going to come to Kalos. I'll definitely come and try to take on the gym leaders and apply for the Kalos League Conference. And while I'm there, maybe you and I can hang out and travel together. Or at least meet up. It might be more fun to catch up with each other in person rather than an e-mail!"

"I'm going to have to talk to my Mom and Professor Oak about the best way to get to Kalos and how fast I can get over there. Once I figure out what I'm going to do, I'll send you another e-mail and we can figure out how and where we can meet up.

"I'm super excited to meet up with you soon someday Serena! Thanks again for sending me the e-mail. It meant a lot to me! I hope you are having a good day as well!

"Ash."

Serena was quiet for a moment. She blinked a few times before she read the e-mail again. She then re-read it a third time, and then a fourth. Once she finished the fourth time, a smile developed on her face as she got out of her chair and started to jump around her room in excitement.

"He's coming, he's coming, he's coming!" She repeated over-and-over again to herself.

For the first since she moved to Kalos, Serena was going to see her childhood best friend. And, there was a chance that she'd be going on an adventure with him. Nothing else could happen that day that would bring down her mood.

Quick Trivia:

1: Serena has no official 'canon' last name, so I chose to make one for her. 'Paschall' is actually the last name of her English dub voice actress, Haven Paschall. It also seemed to fit somebody from the Kalos region, so I went with that.

2: Ash was reintroduced to Serena through e-mail and put in a little more thought about the subject than the one in canon. I really do think if prodded enough, Ash would have remembered Serena when she was asked. But that's just my opinion at least.

Author's Note: Hello everybody! :) I hope you all enjoyed the beginning of my story, One Year Early. I recently got back into the Pokémon XY anime and I couldn't stop myself from becoming an Amourshipper. And I also couldn't stop this idea from developing in my head. I finally sat down and decided to start writing it and now I'm super excited to get working on the story for you guys!

Just a small heads-up: the story is taking place a year early, like the title suggests. While I may follow some of the events that happen in the anime loosely, I want to create a mostly new story for you all to read. I wanted to get involved and make an original Amourshipping story, so I'm super excited to get starting on writing it for you guys.

Feel free to review or message me about your thoughts. I'm trying to create the best stories I can, so any criticism and critiques are always appreciated. I'm just trying to make the best possible story for you all.

That's all I have for now at least. I'll have the next update on here as fast as I can! Until then :)