Dawn watched Ash closely as they flew quickly towards Lumiose City. He and Pikachu were on Charizard, while she and Piplup were on Pidgeot. Charizard was stubbornly keeping ahead of Pidgeot, as if racing. They were almost there and she could tell Ash was as tense as ever. She was worried about if there was going to be a fight. Something had seemed to mess with him during his battle with Malva. He'd started off well, but then he'd somehow lost his focus. He did plan out that move well with Houndoom using his flash fire ability, but it had still seemed kind of rushed.

"If you've got something to ask me, just do it." Ash said, not even turning his head. Somehow he was able to just kind of sense what Dawn was thinking.

"How do you know I wanted to ask you anything?" Dawn asked. It was kind of creepy. Was he doing some kind of weird mind reading thing.

"You've been quiet ever since yesterday. You're not usually this quiet. Usually you've complained about something at this point in the day." He turned around and smiled mischievously.

Dawn narrowed her eyes, but then sighed. She might as well ask. "Do you think that whatever was making you so calm isn't working anymore? You seemed to be struggling in your battle."

Ash nodded, turning back to face the sky ahead of him. "Yeah...it's gone. It's kind of like a fog in my mind that had been completely cleared. I think it's always been there, but I've only noticed it...well yesterday."

"Oh...yeah that makes sense." Dawn lied. Obviously it didn't make sense at all. Things usually didn't make sense when it came to Ash. He usually didn't let things make sense. Although...that was part of the reason it was so fun to travel with him.

"I know it doesn't make any sense at all. It doesn't matter, though. It's my problem. I don't want you to worry about it." Ash said. It was a little creepy to Dawn. Ash sounded...wise?

"You've really changed a lot since Sinnoh." Dawn said, after a few moments of silence. "Even since I saw you in Unova. You're...kind of mature."

"Too bad." Ash said with a laugh. "I usually take pride in being immature."

Dawn laughed as well, remembering moments from their travels that could probably support that point. "It's not all bad. It probably helped you realize what you felt for Serena."

Ash nodded and then sighed. "I know...but that doesn't matter now. If she's ok we can't stay long. She'll be happier if she can accomplish her dream."

Dawn didn't answer. She hadn't wanted to say anything to Ash. She'd even lied and told him he had made the right decision. However, she knew that what he'd done was actually the opposite of what would make Serena happy. It might, unfortunately, be the wiser and more logical choice, but if Ash knew more about love, he'd know that Serena would choose him over her training.

"Maybe we can go quickly after that." Ash said and Dawn jumped a little. She had no clue what he'd just said, being lost in her own thoughts.

"Sorry...what was that?" Dawn asked.

Ash turned around. "You wanted to go to Prism Tower right? Maybe we could go quickly after checking on Serena. Clemont will let us up. I can show you where I jumped off to save Pikachu."

"You've gotta be kidding me." Dawn almost yelled. "You are, right? You didn't actually jump off of Prism Tower?" Ash just smiled and then turned back, facing the sky ahead once again. "You really are insane." Dawn muttered.

Ash laughed. "Mature...insane...not much difference I guess."

Dawn shook her head exasperatedly. He was irritating. She decided to think back on the battle with Malva some more. It had definitely looked good at the start. Houndoom's flamethrower had been incredibly strong. The heat had made Dawn feel like her face was melting. And then when he'd landed that dark pulse...when the stone on his collar had flashed. "Ash...I don't quite understand this mega evolution stuff. Would you mind telling me how it works?"

"Sure. It's pretty cool." Ash said. "It can only happen when a trainer and their Pokemon have a really strong bond. I guess kind of like the bond Pikachu and I have."

"So could Pikachu mega evolve?" Dawn asked. She wondered if Pikachu could evolve, maybe Piplup might be able to as well.

Ash shook his head. "Professor Sycamore said something about how since Pikachu could still technically evolve into Raichu, mega evolution isn't possible." He shrugged. "Doesn't matter though. Pikachu could beat any Raichu, mega evolved or not."

Dawn smiled, seeing Pikachu nuzzle Ash affectionately. "So that means Pokemon have to be fully evolved to be able to mega evolve."

Ash nodded. "Yeah I think so. And then it's kind of like an extra stage of evolution, but it's only temporary. Only for brief periods of time because of the amount of power it uses."

"And you use stones for it, right? A key stone and the stone that is specific to the Pokemon?" Dawn asked, wondering if Ash was going to pick up on what she was getting at.

"Right. The trainer has the key stone and the Pokemon has the mega stone. So if I had a key stone and Charizard had a mega stone, I could mega evolve him." Ash said matter-of-factly. He clearly had no doubts about his bond with Charizard. "Same with Pidgeot."

"What about Houndoom?" Dawn asked, watching Ash carefully for a reaction.

Ash turned to face her. "He's got Houndoomite on his collar, but Malva's got the key stone. When she abandoned him, she never took the Houndoomite back."

Dawn noticed he didn't seem to be thinking of what had happened the day before. "So you're saying the key stone and mega stone are necessary for mega evolution?"

Ash shrugged. "I don't know, really. My Greninja had a special form. It definitely was like mega evolution. Professor Sycamore thought we were able to do a purer form of mega evolution. I guess it was kind of like we were the key stone and mega stone." He laughed. "When we tried to use a key stone with Professor Sycamore's Greninjanite, it exploded. I had to limit the power to make it work."

Dawn laughed a little nervously. Ash might have found that funny, but she actually found it to be a little intimidating. Not that she was scared of Ash, but...some of the things he did were quite alarming sometimes. "So...it is possible to mega evolve without one or both of the stones?" She asked after a moment.

Ash nodded, turning back to face the sky again. "I guess I'm living proof of that."

Dawn smirked at his obliviousness. At least his new found maturity didn't completely change some of his more amusing characteristics. "And not just with Greninja...but with Houndoom too?" She asked.

Ash whipped around, surprise in his eyes. "You think that was what that was?" He asked.

Dawn shrugged. "I don't know. He didn't change form, but that Houndoomite definitely seemed to act up."

Ash nodded. "That was definitely weird." He thought for a few moments. "I didn't know a bond could develop that quick."

Dawn smiled. "I'm not surprised, though. Look at what you did for him. As reckless as you were, you risked your life for him. And not to mention, when Malva was insulting him, you stood up for him."

Ash sighed. "Yeah...but remember when I had him take the hit so he could use flash fire? That was horrible. That was the kind of thing I hated about Paul."

Dawn was silent for a couple of minutes, thinking about that. Then, the answer came to her. "No...Ash, Houndoom didn't hesitate. He was perfectly willing to do that move. He had complete trust in you that you had a plan. And itdid work...mostly."

"Not completely." Ash muttered.

"Well look at what you did when it didn't work. You decided that you'd take a hit. You made up for it, Ash. If you thought you did a bad thing, at least know you made up for it." Dawn smiled encouragingly. Ash nodded and turned back ahead. They remained silent the rest of the way.

XXXXX

"There it is." Ash said, pointing at Prism Tower in the distance. The tower that signalled they had finally arrived at Lumiose City.

Dawn gasped behind him. "It's amazing." He turned around and saw her staring wide-eyed at the city. She then frowned. "Of course you jumped off that thing..." She said, shaking her head disapprovingly.

Ash laughed and turned back ahead. "Charizard, Pidgeot, let us down at the entrance." Both Pokemon immediately dipped down and approached the ground. Ash's stomach lurched a little at the sudden change of direction, but he'd obviously experienced more jarring movements from flying with Charizard so he was ok with it. Unfortunately, when they landed, he noticed Dawn didn't look too good.

"Couldn't we have flown to the ground a little slower?" She asked, groaning and holding her stomach. "That wasn't fun."

"Sorry about that." Ash said, laughing nervously. He then turned to face Lumiose City. "You ok to go in?"

Dawn sighed and then stood up straighter. "Yeah. Let's go check on Serena."

Ash recalled Charizard and Pidgeot to their pokeballs and then he and Dawn entered Lumiose City. He decided the first place they should go and check, was Sycamore's lab, as Calem had mentioned that Serena had been doing some work there.

It was fairly easy to find where they needed to go. Ash knew the area well enough that he was able to find his way through the many streets of the city. Eventually, they were standing in front of Sycamore's lab.

"So what do you want to do? Are we going in there?" Dawn asked.

Ash thought for a moment. "I'm not sure. I..." He just stared at the doors to the lab, not saying anything. Not knowing what to say.

"I'll go in. I'll ask if Serena's there and say I'm just interested in performances." Dawn smiled. "It won't be a lie. I am interested."

Ash nodded. "Thanks Dawn."

Dawn nodded and then ran up the steps towards Sycamore's lab. Ash waited silently, occasionally glancing around nervously to see if Serena was around. And then, after a couple of minutes, when he glanced around, his eyes landed on a surprised looking Bonnie.

"You?" Bonnie asked, eyes wide. Ash blinked. He opened his mouth to say something but no words came out. Bonnie stared at him for another moment and then grinned. "You came back for Serena!" She yelled happily. She ran up to Ash and hugged him. "I knew you had to smarten up at some point." Dedenne chirped happily from her bag and Pikachu said a happy greeting.

Ash gently pushed Bonnie away from the hug. "I'm sorry, Bonnie. It's not what you think. I...just came to check on something."

Bonnie glared at Ash. "What do you mean? You're not here for Serena?" She narrowed her eyes and looked like she was going to cry. "Why are you here then?"

"I am here for her. It's complicated." Ash said quickly. "I don't know how to explain it. I just felt like she might be in danger."

Bonnie opened her mouth in surprise. "Danger?" She asked. "What kind of danger?"

"I don't know." Ash answered. "Like I said, it's hard to explain. The other day I just had this kind of gut feeling she was in danger."

Bonnie looked confused, but she nodded. She then looked at the ground nervously. "So you're checking on her now?"

"My friend Dawn just went into the lab. She's the girl that I travelled Sinnoh with. We ran into each other near Anistar City." Ash explained.

Bonnie nodded. "Yeah I think you mentioned her before." She looked at the lab in confusion. "Wait, why is she checking?"

Ash looked guilty. "Well...if Serena's not actually in danger...it's probably not best if we see each other."

Bonnie narrowed her eyes, but then sighed and looked at the ground. "Fine..." She shuffled her feet nervously. "I'm sorry I didn't say goodbye to you in Snowbelle City."

Ash shook his head, smiling. "Don't worry about it, Bonnie. I know it was hard for you as well. It all happened pretty fast."

Bonnie looked up at him and tears were in her eyes. "But I acted like a little kid."

Ash laughed. "Bonnie, you are a little kid." She looked at him angrily, but Ash just smiled back. "There's nothing wrong with that. Trust me, you should enjoy it while it lasts. Make silly mistakes that don't mean anything now. When you get older, it's not that easy." Ash was surprising both Bonnie and himself with his words, but he realized he was sort of talking about what happened with Serena. He knew he regretted it. To him, it was a mistake that meant everything. It could have lasting effects on the rest of his life.

Bonnie nodded. "Is there still a chance you and Serena can be together?" She asked.

Ash sighed and looked away. He didn't have an answer for Bonnie. The silence was very awkward and he was saved by the lab doors opening. He prepared to bolt out of sight in case it was Serena, but it was Dawn.

Dawn ran down the steps and smiled happily at Ash. "Professor Sycamore said Serena's ok. She's apparently practising a routine by the river." She looked at Bonnie in surprise. "Oh...who's this?"

"This is Bonnie." Ash said, gesturing to Bonnie. He then gestured to Dawn. "And Bonnie, this is Dawn."

"Oh hi Bonnie!" Dawn squeaked. "Ash told me all about you. Apparently you're already really good at battling."

Bonnie nodded, smiling. "Yeah." She looked around. "I wanna go with you to check on Serena. Let's go."

Ash and Dawn nodded and the three of them headed towards the river. They zigzagged through the streets and past all the shops and restaurants. Maybe there was no need to rush, but Ash wasn't going to take any chances. They finally reached the river and looked towards it. Ash's heart started beating furiously at what he saw. She was in no apparent danger, but the sight of her couldn't have made him any more excited. And then, seeing the woman approaching her, made him feel a huge sense of frustration.

XXXXX

Serena happily congratulated her Pokemon as they finished another perfect practice session for their routine. Delphox was perfectly manipulating her flames, Pancham's stone edge was as amazing as ever and Sylveon's fairy wind was flawless. She had no idea if doing the things that Palermo had asked her to do were helping her, but her performance practices had definitely been in top form lately. Maybe it was just that she was getting over Ash. No...that wasn't it. She probably would never get over that.

It was definitely hard to get over Ash with what her training was starting to focus on. If Palermo wanted her to learn from Ash, why have her separated from him. I guess she technically didn't separate me. Serena told herself. Ash just told me to go ahead with the training. But Serena still felt it was kind of a dumb idea regardless. Palermo had still wanted her relationship with Ash to end, but she still wanted to make Serena learn from him.

"You're doing very well, Serena." A voice said behind her. She turned around and saw Palermo behind her. "Almost looking like a Kalos Queen."

Almost huh? Serena thought. Like when I was about a minute away from beating Aria? "Thank you." She managed to say with fake sincerity.

Palermo frowned. "You're not pleased about something."

Serena sighed. Palermo was very perceptive. She decided to confess her anger. "I don't understand why you're having me learn about Ash from Professor Sycamore. Wouldn't it have made more sense for me to learn from Ash personally? You know...stay with him?"

Palermo took a deep breath and watched the water flow in the river. "If you remember, I didtell you that you could finish your journey with Ash."

Serena pursed her lips angrily. She felt frustrated with Palermo, but now she was frustrated with Ash. "You had to know it wasn't going to work like that."

Palermo shrugged. "I had hoped it would." She looked seriously at Serena. "I had thought that you spending the last part of his journey with him would have taught you enough so that you could properly train."

Serena felt tears in her eyes, but she looked away and wiped her eyes covering it up. Palermo probably noticed, but she didn't act like it. Serena decided to move the subject along. "So...why did you come here?"

"I just wanted to check on your performance. We can't have you getting rusty." Palermo looked at Serena's Pokemon and then at her. "You're all working quite hard. I must say...you have moved on from Ash very well."

"I haven't moved on." Serena muttered. "I can't move on."

Palermo shook her head. "Ash wanted you to move on. You must do so."

Serena didn't answer. She stared at the river, wondering if she might see the thing that had been watching her. The thing that had saved her. Her eyes widened as she saw movement. Could that have been it? She peered closer at it. No...it had only been a Luvdisc.

XXXXX

"Ash, where are you going?" Dawn hissed, as Ash started walking away. She and Bonnie followed close behind, leaving behind the place where they had watched Serena and the woman, Palermo.

Ash looked back. Dawn could see his face was unnaturally frozen. It looked like he was doing everything in his power to stop from breaking down. "She's ok." He said, very quietly. "I didn't need to come."

Bonnie ran to Ash's side and tugged on his arm. "Aren't you happy to know she's ok, though. It's better than her being in danger."

"Of course." Ash said quickly. "Obviously." He kept his head down and kept walking straight. "I just didn't know it would be so hard to see her again. All I wanted to do was go to her, but I can't. It's not fair to her."

Dawn exchanged a glance with Bonnie. She'd never seen Ash like this. He was...heartbroken. It was hard to watch. "Ash...you had to come. You had to make sure she wasn't in danger."

"Maybe I didn't." Ash growled. "Maybe I was just selfishly telling myself I did. I made up an excuse to see her. A stupid excuse."

"You know it wasn't an excuse." Dawn argued. "Whatever made you think she was in danger was...some kind of connection you two have."

Ash shook his head. "She's not in danger. Nothing's wrong with her. She's fine here."

Dawn shrugged. "I don't know. She didn't look overly happy when that Palermo woman was talking to her. She seemed kind of angry with her for splitting you two up."

"I'm the one who split us up." Ash spat back. "It was my idea. It was all because of my gym battle. I did it so that I could focus more. I didn't do it so she could be happy. I did it so I could focus."

Bonnie pulled on Ash's arm again. "Why don't you just go and talk to Serena again. Maybe you should talk to her. Maybe she'd travel with you again. We could all travel with you again."

"No..." Ash whispered. "I'm not going to hurt Serena anymore." He looked at Dawn. "I'm just not supposed to be involved in this kind of thing. I always make reckless choices. I make decisions too quickly. That's only going to hurt Serena more."

"But Serena wants to be with you, Ash." Bonnie squeaked. "Couldn't you see that?

Ash stopped walking and just sat down on the ground. People looked at him strangely. It was an admittedly strange sight, seeing someone sit on a dirty city sidewalk, but Ash obviously didn't care. "Why did I think she was in danger?" He asked. "Was it really that I just wanted to come and see her?

Dawn didn't know of he was asking himself or her and Bonnie. She decided to try giving an answer. She had no idea if it was right or not, but she had to try giving Ash some comfort. "I don't think that's it, Ash." She said. "I don't know...maybe you sensed something about Malva and just thought it had something to do with Serena."

Bonnie looked at her with wide eyes. "You guys saw Malva?"

Dawn nodded. "She was disguised. She had a scarf and a hood and sunglasses, along with really baggy clothes, but then she revealed herself. She attacked Ash and he battled her with Houndoom."

Bonnie looked stunned. "Wait...that sounds like Mauve."

Ash looked up in surprise. "What do you mean?"

Bonnie looked at Ash. "A woman dressed like that challenged Clemont to a gym battle and easily beat all of his Pokemon with just her Pyroar. She actually started insulting you a lot."

"So Malva's challenging gyms?" Ash muttered. He looked at Dawn. "Maybe it was Malva I sensed. Maybe I thought Serena was in danger, because of her, but it was actually just us." He thought for a moment. "And I did have that vision from Greninja where he was saving Serena from Malva."

Dawn nodded. "Yeah...that does make sense." Well...the last part didn't really make any sense. She couldn't even begin to understand Ash getting visions from his Pokemon.

Bonnie smiled. "I guess you beat her then, right Ash?"

Ash shook his head. "No...she was about to hurt Houndoom, but then some guy named Calem saved us. Apparently he met Serena at Sycamore's lab. He wanted to battle me, but I wanted to get here first."

Bonnie laughed. "Well that shows how much you care about Serena." Ash looked at her confused. "If you declined a battle, that shows you care more than anything."

XXXXX

Giovanni watched the video feed from the microscopic drone flying around Lumiose City. His Team Rocket scientists had developed it for finding rare Pokemon in hard to reach places, but it was definitely useful for spying on the ignorant people of Lumiose City. As well as the girl he needed for his plan to go well.

"There she is, boss." Meowth said, pointing to the screen, where a girl with a pink shirt and a red unzipped vest around it stood. She had a red hat covering her honey coloured hair and a blue ribbon on the top of her shirt.

"So that is the one the boy is fond of?" Giovanni asked. "Interesting." He looked at the Pokemon she seemed to be playing with. They were doing silly attacks, apparently in an attempt to be pretty. "Pathetic." He muttered.

"She's practising performances." Jessie pointed out.

"Like I said...pathetic." Giovanni growled. He looked at James, who was controlling the drone. "Fly it around. Let's see how well observed she is."

James nodded and moved his hand on the mousepad in front of him. The drone then turned around and flew up a little. Immediately, they noticed an older woman with grey hair approaching the girl.

"She was at the Masterclass." Jessie gasped. "Palermo, I think."

"She's no threat." Giovanni grunted. "She's doesn't have any Pokemon with her and she is elderly. If we need to get past her, it won't be hard." He looked at James. "Keep moving. We need to know if anyone else is around her that could be a threat."

James moved the drone around some more. It flew around, not appearing to find anything, but then James gasped. A moment later, both Jessie and Meowth gasped as well. Giovanni looked at them in confusion and they pointed to a particular point on screen. James manoeuvred the drone closer and the image became clearer.

"The boy is there?" Giovanni asked. "I thought he wasn't with her." He squinted. "Is he just watching her?"

Jessie nodded. "It doesn't look like he wants to be seen." She gasped. "Hey...isn't that one of the old twerpettes?"

"It is." Meowth said. "What is she doing there?"

"Is there anything special about her?" Giovanni asked. "Could we use her as well?"

"She's a coordinator from Sinnoh." Jessie explained. "She travelled with the twerp when he was there."

Giovanni nodded. "She's no threat then." He shrugged. "Although, I suppose if we get the opportunity, we can use her to get to the boy as well."

James made a nervous whine, but stopped when Giovanni glared at him. "Sorry boss...um...something in my throat." He coughed. "Um...I don't think that twerpette is of any use to us...it...probably isn't worth our time."

Giovanni shrugged. "Perhaps you're right. I guess we can just focus on the one."

James sighed. "Um...maybe we can do something else?" He looked at Meowth. "Meowth...don't you think it might be a better idea to use another way to control the twerp?"

Meowth nervously looked at Giovanni and then at Persian next to him, who was growling. "I...uh...no James, I don't think we should. This is...probably the best plan."

Giovanni nodded with a glare at James. "We go with my plan. I told you already, if you don't support Team Rocket tactics, you have no place here. Don't make me tell you again."

James nodded with wide eyes. "Yes boss."

"Now," Giovanni said with a smile, "let's find out how we shall kidnap the girl."