(Thursday)

When we're at the Kalos Fair inside the school, Lillie and I are looking around the clothes stands until we hear a familiar voice.

"Ash! Is that you?" And much to our surprise, a girl rushes towards me and gives me a hug. The girl is no other than Serena, my travel companion in the Kalos Region.

"Serena? Long time no see!" I say with a smile and Pikachu also greets the girl. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm asked by the director to come here and give a performance about the Showcases." She says.

I notice the jealousy from Lillie and I say, "Serena, I want to introduce you to Lillie, she's my friend and also my classmate. Lillie, this is Serena."

Lillie calms down a little and says, "It is nice to meet you, Serena."

Serena notices Lillie and then me, she asks, "Sorry to be rude, but are you two perhaps dating?"

I pale a little as I don't want to actually break Serena's heart, and Lillie notices my fear and says, "What if we are? Are you sad about it?"

Damn it... Lillie! Why are you going to be so bold? Now Serena is going to hate me for this... or so I thought, I notice that Serena smiles at Lillie and says, "Congratulations, Lillie. You finally get to open the heart of the dense head like Ash."

Wait, what? She was not mad at me for having a girlfriend like Lillie? What's going on here? But I thought she has feelings for me... Lillie asks, "You're not angry at me for stealing Ash? I thought you have a crush on Ash or something."

Serena sighs, "I gave up a long time ago, and I'm sure that Ash isn't going to return his feelings for me. I just want to continue being friends, that's all. But you should tell me how did you manage to let Ash confess to you."

"Sure..." Lillie is also a little confused, and I say, "I'm sorry, Serena. For ignoring your feelings like that, but you're still one of my best friends."

"I'm glad." Serena says. "Anyway, how's the school doing? I was surprised when I heard that you're attending the school."

"How did you know about this?" I ask, and I hear a familiar voice, "Of course, I told her."

When we turn around, we find Diantha walking towards me. "Good to see you again, Ash."

"So you're also here, sis." I say while sharing the hug with her. "Coming back to the old school, I see."

"I couldn't refuse the director's offer. Mom was supposed to come as well, but she's still helping our big sis at the Rota Kingdom." Diantha says.

"I see..." I say with a slight frown.

"Anyway, I heard from Mom about your grades on the Mid-Term Exam last week, I must say that I'm proud of you two." Diantha smiles. "You must have worked really hard for this to happen."

"Well, not really. Having 8 years of traveling really helps me a lot." I say. "And I'm still traveling on weekends."

"Oh? I also heard from mother that you're also doing some quests from Professor Sada and Professor Turo, and also some quests about stopping Team Star?"

"So you know about Team Star as well, sis?" I ask.

"The Team Star attack happened while I was filming movies in Unova, so I only heard about it. Though I was also depressed when I heard that some of my friends joined Team Star..."

"So it is not just my brother..." Lillie says. "Anyway, about that problem, we were asked by someone to stop the team by taking their Star Badges that signal as leaders. We manage to stop 2 of them, and there are also 3 more. And we were planning to disband the third one this weekend. I think it is the Poison Type one."

"Poison Type... Atticus..." Diantha frowns. "I see you're going to stop him this time."

"You know the Poison Leader of Team Star, sis?" I ask.

"I thought I know him, but after he joins Team Star... I don't know." Diantha says.

"Anyway, I think we should change the topic." Serena says, noticing the frown on Diantha's face. "So you're also challenging the Gyms, how many badges do you have? I think you manage to defeat Iono, right? That was broadcast wide."

"Yeah... I admit that the Gym challenges in this region are very interesting. I mean, all of them are unique and I actually have four badges now." I say as I show the four badges.

"Technically we both have 9 badges. But only 4 are official for the Pokemon League here. The other 5 are just given by either Team Star or a friend of ours."

"Never thought about you going to get all 18 badges in the Paldea Region." Diantha says. "I hope you succeed."

And after that, I can see that Lillie and Serena are talking about the journeys in the Kalos Region and Alola Region, and they seem to become great friends, much to my relief. And Serena also notices that Lillie's attitude and personality is also similar to mine, that's why we make a great duo.

It is a shame that Serena and Diantha will only be here for today because of their busy schedules, but Serena also tells me that Bonnie and Clemont are going to come tomorrow, much to my delight.

(Friday)

"Ash! Long time no see!" When I and my friends are attending the fair, we hear a familiar voice as we turn to see Bonnie hugging me. I smile and say, "Bonnie! Long time no see. Where's Clemont?"

"He's still working on his devices for the speech." Bonnie says. "Did you capture more cute Pokemon?"

"Of course I do. It is a new region for me after all." I chuckle. "Guys, this is Bonnie, she's the sister of the Gym Leader of Lumiose City: Clemont."

After each of them introduces themselves, Bonnie says, "We wanted to come on the same day as Serena, but because my brother is really busy and the fact that Serena only has time for yesterday, so we didn't get to see each other again..."

"I know, we've met her yesterday." I say. "We did chat for a while."

"But still... You guys are keepers!" Bonnie starts to do the same embarrassing thing as she kneels. "Please take care of my brother."

And suddenly, Clemont appears and his Aipom Arm grabs Bonnie, "I told you not to do this! Bonnie!"

"Hey, Clemont!" I say, and Clemont notices me. "Ash! What a surprise!"

"How are you doing?" I ask.

"Pretty fine." Clemont says as he puts Bonnie down, "I heard that you join Narauva University and it seems you have been doing well."

"Yeah. And these are my classmates." I say.

After introducing themselves, we all decide to have a seat while having some drinks. Clemont says, "You know, we all saw your battle against Iono from the Livestream, I must say that your battle with her really reach a lot of fans."

"So it is spread worldwide..." I say with a sweatdrop. "But then again, I was surprised when all the Gym Leaders here ask for six-on-six battles."

"You're the World Monarch after all." Reisa says, "You shouldn't be so modest."

"Yeah, so you're going to give out a speech on the stage, what about you, Bonnie? What are you going to do then?"

Clemont says, "Since you're here, it will be better if you help me take care of her."

"Hey, I'm not a kid anymore! I'm a trainer!" Bonnie pouts. "I even pick Froakie as my Starter Pokemon!"

"Really? I thought you would pick Fennekin." I say.

"I want to be as cool as Ash-Greninja after all." Bonnie smiles. "And despite having a Starter Pokemon, my first Pokemon will always be Dedenne."

Dedenne appears from the bag and he greets us, Pikachu also greets the mouse Pokemon. Nemona says, "Your Dedenne is so cute. Maybe he will also like to see my Pawmot as well."

As he sends out the Pokemon, all three of them are communicating with electricity. Bonnie says, "So that's a Pawmot? Is it true that it can be found around here?"

"Of course, how about I show you where to find one?" I ask.

"I'll come as well." Lillie says. And then we decide to let the others enjoy the fair while the three of us are at South Province Area 1.

While we're searching for Pawmo, Bonnie asks Lillie, "So you and Ash are a thing?"

Lillie blushes a little and she smiles, "Well, yeah. We are..."

Bonnie says, "Don't be so shy, Ash is amazing, although I feel a little bad for Serena about this as well, then again, it is Ash's choice."

"Serena said that she moved on from her love for Ash yesterday. Ash was also worried when I revealed the truth to her." Lillie says.

"Eh?" Bonnie says. "So how did it happen? How did you confess to Ash about your love?"

"Not only Serena, but even you want to know about this?" I say with a sigh. "The thing is that we are actually engaged."

"Engaged? When is the wedding? Can I come?" Bonnie asks with a delight.

"We haven't set a date yet." Lillie says. "We only do this because Ash is royalty and we don't want other people to marry Ash for his fame and fortune."

"Ah, I think I've seen a lot of that kind of stories from the fanfictions." Bonnie says, and we both stare at her with confusion. "Of course, you two want to be married for love. What else could it be?"

I wonder how many things Bonnie knows, but she is easily distracted after finding a Paldean Wooper once we help her get the Pawmo, and she also wants to capture it with the help of Flabebe.

Once we are done, we manage to bring her back to the speech, where Clemont is showing the Lumiose City and the Aipom Backpack.

"So did Clemont's inventions continue to blow up in the end?" I know it is quite offensive, but I still want to ask.

"Oh, it is getting less and less." Bonnie says. "He stopped screwing around with some parts of the machines."

"Good to know." I still remember how many times his inventions were blown up in the end, but I know that most of the time he was successful and Team Rocket was the one that destroyed the machines. Those sure are some good old days.

After spending more time looking around the fair and learning about the new Pokemon, it is time for Clemont and Bonnie to bid farewell to us. Even though she wants to stay, this is a university after all, and Bonnie is not aged enough to join in.

"So what are your plans tomorrow?" Luke asks.

"We're going to the Team Star's Poison Base." I say. "So who's coming?"

"I can come, since I don't have any work to do." Reisa says.

"Well, not for the two of us." Luke sighs. "We both have some personal things to do."

"I see... it's fine." I say. Although I wonder what is this Poison Leader's relation with my sister, and why did my sister feels like she doesn't know him anymore?

And here is a new chapter, this marks the end of the Kalos Fair, and as you can see, Ash and Lillie manage to meet the Kalos Gang and I hope you like this chapter. The next chapter will be the Poison Type Team Star Base.