Waking up to the sight of a Pokemon staring at you was normal for a Pokemon trainer. In fact, it was something that should be expected. However, Serena was really only used to waking up to the sight of Delphox, Pancham, Sylveon and maybe Dedenne, Squishy or even Pikachu. The sight that greeted her this morning, was a winking vampire bat Pokemon with creepy yellow eyes. Well, only one eye was open, but Serena assumed the other was yellow.

"Gliscor, you're gonna freak Serena out if she wakes up and sees you doing that," Ash's voice said, coming from where the computer in the room was.

Serena had, indeed, been a little freaked out. Although, Gliscor's wink, and his tongue sticking out while doing so, was actually kind of cute in her opinion. She only had a brief memory of seeing him in Lumiose City, so this was their first real meeting. She sat up in her bed and smiled. "Hi Gliscor," she greeted.

"Gliscor!" The bat Pokemon happily exclaimed, opening his closed eye.

Ash turned around from his seat at the computer. Serena noticed him scooping up some pokeballs. She hadn't even noticed before that there was a transfer machine there. Clearly Ash had just collected his team from Professor Oak. He smiled at Serena. "Didn't know you were up. Uh...Gliscor was kind of excited I think, so I let him out as soon as he got transferred over. Last time he battled in a league was against Paul, so he's pretty psyched."

"He's cute," Serena said, kind of surprising herself with the Bonnie-like explanation for what many would actually see as a very intimidating Pokemon.

"Scor?" Gliscor asked, turning around to Ash.

Ash laughed, but gave a confident fist pump for his Pokemon. "Remo won't think you're cute, that's for sure!"

Serena yawned and looked around the room. "Where are Bonnie and Clemont?"

"They went to eat," Ash explained, standing up and clipping the pokeballs to his belt. "Pikachu and Butterfree went with them. I wanted to wait for you, though."

Serena blushed at those words. She had actually topped eating on Ash's list of priorities. If that didn't prove how he felt, nothing could. "I'll get ready and we can go right away," she announced, jumping out of bed and heading to the bathroom.

In a few minutes Serena was ready, and she and Ash set off, Ash recalling Gliscor before doing so. It was somewhat like their date the night before as they walked. Serena was feeling much more comfortable about actually appearing like a couple, so she held on tight to Ash, who may or may not have understood why.

When they reached the Pokemon centre, Pikachu was up on Ash's shoulder in an instant and Bonnie and Clemont were waving from a table. It was only the two Lumiose siblings and surprisingly they were with the blonde girl that had argued in Ash's favour at the opening ceremonies the night before. Serena remembered Ash had said her name was Astrid.

"Hey guys," Ash said, as he and Serena walked over. He looked at Astrid, a puzzled expression on his face. "Um...hi Astrid."

"Hi," Astrid greeted. "Clemont and Bonnie recognized me, so they invited me to sit with them," she explained. She then looked at Serena. "We didn't really get a chance to meet. Serena, right?"

"Yeah," Serena said, nodding. "Nice to meet you. And thanks for helping Ash out yesterday."

Astrid dismissed that with a wave of her hand as Serena and Ash sat down. "I didn't want him getting disqualified. As soon as I heard about the Team Flare attack and saw what Ash had done, I knew I had to battle him again."

"It'll be different from the last time," Ash assured her, as he dug into his food that Bonnie and Clemont had already got for him. "Hawlucha and Greninja, or Froakie back then, weren't very happy with how that battle worked out."

"Well, make sure to get past Remo first. He's a pretty good dragon type trainer as far as I know," Astrid warned, looking quite serious. "He's got more than his Garchomp."

"And I've got more than Greninja and Pikachu. I'll be fine," Ash assured her. "Anyways, I like a good challenge."

"Can you please tell us who you're using?" Bonnie suddenly shouted out. "I wanna know!"

Serena shook her head and gave an exasperated sigh as Ash laughed. "Secret, Bonnie. Only Professor Oak knows. And Serena met one earlier."

"You won't be disappointed," Serena said with a wink. "It's a really strong looking Pokemon."

The door to the Pokemon centre opened just then, and Serena noticed Ash tense up a bit. She was a little confused about why. It was only Alain, Mairin, Iris and Cilan. She then noticed Alain look over at Ash, a similar tense look about him. She got the feeling that Ash's run-in with Calem hadn't been the only one he'd had. Luckily, however, Alain's face didn't seem to have been given the same treatment as Calem's.

Ash then sighed, shoved the rest of his food into his mouth...somehow, and stood up. "I've gotta go talk to Alain about something," he said, his voice sounding much too serious to be coming from Ash Ketchum.

XXXXX

Ash was relieved, although maybe not all too surprised, when Alain stood by the door when he saw Ash approaching. Mairin, Cilan and Iris continued towards the others and so the two trainers were able to speak in private.

"Hi Alain," Ash greeted awkwardly. "I..." He took a deep breath and shook his head. "Sorry about last night. Things just went kind of crazy and it was all so fast."

Alain looked at Ash for a moment, giving a deadpan stare, but then smiled. "Don't worry about it. I shouldn't have snapped at you, either. Who knows, I might have done the same thing. Remo...he's not a very likeable guy, is he?"

Ash laughed, more so from relief than from the question. "No...not so much." He decided to take this chance to find out about Remo's Garchomp. "Is it true his Garchomp can mega evolve?"

Alain nodded, scratching behind his head as he thought for a moment. "Yeah, I battled him before. He was strong, for sure, but I think you can outsmart him. Are you using Greninja?"

"No," Ash said, shaking his head, feeling a bit embarrassed that he was admitting he wouldn't be using his strongest Pokemon against someone that could mega evolve. "Greninja's...got the day off."

"But..." Alain started, looking completely dumbfounded. However, he stopped, thinking for a moment. "I guess you've got someone else in mind for Garchomp, huh?" He chuckled a little, shaking his head. "You're pretty strange, Ash. Although, I have to admit, I like your style."

There was a noise from behind, as Clemont, Bonnie, Serena and Astrid came up to the two trainers. Clemont pointed towards the clock above the desk by Nurse Joy. "We'd better get going, Ash," he panted, somehow tired from running only about fifteen feet. "Iris and Cilan will catch up later."

Ash nodded and looked back at Alain. "Good luck against Trevor. I wouldn't underestimate him. He seems pretty confident about...something."

"I don't underestimate anyone," Alain said seriously. "I have a feeling Trevor's going to be a good first opponent. This first round is really going to set the tone for this tournament, that's for sure."

As Ash and his Kalos travelling companions plus Astrid, turned and started to head through the door, Alain called Ash's name and he waited a moment, looking back. "Yeah?"

"Show Remo that nobody messes with Ash Ketchum," Alain said forcefully.

"You bet!" Ash replied with one last fist pump before heading off behind his friends.

It didn't take too long before they were at the arena, which had people crowding around it already. Ash could see Bonnie was bouncing in excitement, the Butterfree trio who were sticking close to her, dancing around her head. Obviously she didn't want to wait much longer for the battles to begin. He couldn't blame her, though. He was about ready to throw his first pokeball right then and there.

Once they got into the arena, they ran into Dawn, Brock, Gary, Misty and May fairly quickly. All of them were looking quite excited as well. Dawn was even in her cheerleader gear and had given Piplup a pair of pom-poms. Gary seemed to be quite amused by this, likely thinking about the group of cheerleaders that had trailed him around for so long.

The large group headed towards the elevators which would lead the competing trainers to their specified arenas. Spectators needed to go a different route. Ash and Astrid, who also had one of the first matches, would be heading down from there. Ash could feel his excitement bubbling inside him. He was so close. His first Kalos League battle was finally about to happen.

"Make sure to crush this guy, Ashy boy," Gary instructed, with narrowed eyes. "He seemed like a real loser out there last night."

"No need to worry!" Dawn exclaimed. "Our Ash can handle anything."

Ash smiled gratefully at his friends. Having them there for him in the stands meant so much to him, and he didn't know how to thank them. Well...he knew one way. "I'm winning this one for you guys. Remo can't beat me when I've got all of you cheering me on."

"I know you'll be great, Ash," Serena said, eyes shining. Obviously, out of all of them, Serena was the one Ash wanted to win this for, the most. His desire only grew stronger as he looked into her eyes.

Ash then looked up at Pikachu on his shoulder and picked his faithful partner up off of it. "Sorry, Pikachu, but I can't have you out there with me, since you aren't battling." Pikachu gave a slight nod, irritation on his face. He wanted nothing more than to go out there and help crush Remo. "Don't worry, you'll get your chance." Ash held Pikachu out to Serena, who immediately took him. "I need my biggest fans working together."

"Of course," Serena said, holding up Pikachu and giving him an encouraging smile.

Pikachu hesitated a moment, obviously hoping a little more pouting could somehow get him into the battle at the last minute. However, he finally just sighed and turned to Ash. "Pika!" he shouted, giving a fist pump.

Ash gave his partner Pokemon a confident nod and then turned to Astrid. "Let's get going!" The blonde girl nodded and the two headed into the elevator. As the doors closed, Ash gave Serena and Pikachu one last thumbs up, assuring them he was ready to go.

"You've got a lot of loyal friends," Astrid said, as the elevator started its descent. "And that girlfriend of yours...I've never seen someone look at another that way. It's the same when you look at her, but with her it's a lot more obvious."

"I'm winning this tournament for her," Ash explained, thinking of his promise. In a way, it was a new dream that was more important than being just a Pokemon Master.

Ash noticed Astrid bite her lip and look away, possibly holding back a laugh. "Very sweet," she said, "although if you don't mind, I'm not going to let that be easy for you."

"It means more because it's going to be difficult," Ash said, ignoring the slight embarrassment he was feeling at discussing his relationship with someone that was still mostly a stranger to him. "This is one of the greatest gifts I can give to her."

The elevator stopped at that moment and the two trainers stepped out. There were four hallways, each labelled with a different letter that signalled the different arenas. This would be where Ash and Astrid separated.

"I hope you can give her that gift, someday, Ash," Astrid said, smiling. She then did a very Ash-like thing and held out a fist. "Good luck against Remo. Kick that idiot's butt."

Ash smiled back and nodded. "He's as good as beaten."

XXXXX

Serena and the others were quite close to the front of the stands and where Ash was set to be standing. The first thing she had noticed when they'd sat down, was that despite this not being the main arena, it was still huge and they'd managed to pack in a massive load of fans. She noticed a lot of signs that signalled people were fans of Ash, so she realized that her boyfriend's heroics in Geosenge Town and Lumiose City, had made his Kalos League matches a must see for many fans.

It wasn't too long before the referee approached the side of the battlefield and Serena knew that things were about to start. Pikachu had decided to stand next to Dawn's Piplup, along with Dedenne, Squishy, the Butterfree trio and Iris' Axew, on the railing in front of the group. They were the Pokemon cheer squad, or at least Dawn had called them something like that. That didn't matter, though, the point was, without Pikachu in her arms, Serena was able to nervously fiddle with her ribbon as she anxiously waited for the match to start. She knew Ash was going to be great, but for some reason, she could never stop herself from being nervous about his battles. It just meant so much to him that she hated the thought of him losing.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" the announcer shouted, causing Serena to jump. "Welcome to one of the first matches of the Kalos League! This is sure to be a good one, folks. We have a couple of early favourites going head to head."Early favourites? Serena thought. Is Remo that good?

"Don't worry, Serena," May, who was sitting next to Serena, said, noticing Serena's worried expression. "They just want people to stick around. Ash is going to wipe the floor with Remo."

Serena just nodded and waited for the announcer to continue, which he did. "Now, please welcome the first trainer, Dragon Tamer Remo!" There was a great deal of booing as Remo approached the field from a hallway on his side. He stepped onto what looked like a hexagon shaped platform and it lifted him into the air and carried him forward so it was like he was hovering above the field, which was only a flat metal surface right now, as they were only revealing it once the match was starting. Remo didn't look the least bit bothered by the booing. He was just glaring at the hallway that Ash would be coming out of in a moment. "And now, please welcome the next trainer, Ash, the Hero of Lumiose City!" This time, the crowd roared so loud, Serena forgot to cheer because she had to cover her ears. Everyone loved Ash and most had likely never seen him in action.

"Does he even notice how famous he is?" Brock asked, amusement in his voice.

Serena laughed as well as she watched Ash walking out to his position. He didn't seem to notice the cheers at all. He was just focused on moving ahead to his battle. Just like Remo, he stepped onto a hexagon shaped platform and it carried him forward so he hovered in front of the battlefield, across from his opponent.

"Now that our trainers are here, let us find out what field they will battle on for the first half of the match, as it will change once three Pokemon for one trainer have fallen." Serena clenched her fists as the flat metal surface between Ash and Remo opened up halfway through and the two sides slid away, revealing a large hole. Suddenly, something started to rise up and Serena was shocked to see water, with a few rocks scattered throughout it and some trees surrounding it. It wasn't as fancy as the one for the main arena looked, but it was still more detailed than any water field Serena had ever seen. She wondered if Ash had prepared for something like this.

"I wish he was using Greninja," Clemont muttered, sounding nervous. "This would have been a perfect field for him."

Serena nodded, completely understanding Clemont's worrying about that. This would definitely be a field that Greninja could have used well. She snapped her attention back to the announcer's voice as he continued. "As you all know, this will be a full six on six battle. Once three Pokemon for one trainer are eliminated, the field will change. Once all six Pokemon are out for one trainer, the other will be declared the winner and shall move on to the next round." Serena noticed the referee look at both Remo and Ash for confirmation they understood and both nodded. "We also have a very interesting thing to add for the battles here at the Kalos League. We have the platforms our trainers are standing on miked. We will be able to clearly hear their commands and...any trash talk." This earned some excited mutters from the crowd, but they all grew quiet as the screens on each side of the arena lit up. On each side was a picture of Ash and Remo, along with five pokeballs and an empty picture slot, which Serena assumed would be for the Pokemon currently battling. "Well everyone," the announcer shouted out, "let the battle begin!"

XXXXX

"Noivern, I choose you!" Ash shouted, throwing out his pokeball with full force. There was a bright flash of light and his dragon Pokemon emerged and spun through the air before landing on a rock in front of Ash. Noivern looked ready to go, which made Ash glad he'd chosen the young Pokemon first. He saw Noivern's picture show up next to his and felt his determination flare up. It was really time to get going.

"Dragalge, let's show this kid a real Pokemon!" Remo shouted, throwing out his own Pokemon. A brown and purple sea dragon Pokemon emerged, quickly taking advantage of the water field as it submerged itself immediately.

"Let the battle begin!" the referee shouted, and his voice rang out across the stadium.

Ash wasn't going to hesitate one bit. He was fully intent on making the first move. "Boomburst! Get Dragalge out of the water!" Noivern quickly shot into the air and rapidly started flapping his leathery wings. Suddenly, huge blasts of blue energy shot towards the water, bringing up large splashes of water on each contact.

"Twister!" Remo ordered. "Use the water to protect yourself." Ash hated to admit it, but it was an impressive move. He saw the brown shape of Dragalge shimmer underwater as the the water around it started swirling around. Suddenly, a huge, swirling tornado seemed to shoot up above it and it started to catch Noivern's attacks, as it rushed towards him.

"Fly higher and keep out of the way of that twister," Ash cautioned. Noivern ended his boomburst and flapped his wings again, shooting high up into the sky. He was barely visible and was definitely out of reach of the twister attack, which Dragalge had just stopped. This was definitely not going to be easy. It was hard to reach Dragalge without having access to the water or a good way to attack it. Boomburst had likely done a little damage, but now knowing twister would be used to defend it, there was no point trying it right away.

Remo wasn't going to let Ash think forever, though. "Dragon pulse! Knock that overgrown bat out of the sky." Dragalge suddenly shot up to the top of the water and tilted its head up. It seemed to be aiming carefully, and then it fired. The dragon shaped beam of energy shot up and started to head straight towards Noivern.

Ash wasn't concerned at all, though, noticing this as a perfect opportunity. Alain was right. Ash could outsmart Remo. And it looked like he had far more patience as well. The dragon tamer had pulled his Pokemon from its almost unreachable hiding place. "Acrobatics to dodge!" Ash ordered, sure of what would happen if the dodge was successful, which he knew it would be. And it sure was, as Noivern covered himself in his baby blue light and whipped through the air, before easily shooting past the dragon pulse.

Remo reacted just as Ash had thought. "Dragon pulse again!" And sure enough, Dragalge remained at the surface of the water as it aimed its attack and fired.

"Keep using acrobatics and then hit it into the air with dragon claw!" Ash commanded, knowing that Noivern was well aware of the plan. The bat-dragon Pokemon shot through the air again and slipped past the dragon pulse. However, this time he was much closer to Dragalge after the dodge and shot down further. The blue light around him vanished and then his claws glowed green, just before he slashed out with them and knocked Dragalge into the air, eliciting a loud gasp and many cheers from the crowd for the first direct hit of the match. As Dragalge spun through the air, a noticeable wince on its face, Ash knew this was the opportunity to all but clinch this battle. "Supersonic!"

"Dodge it!" Remo shouted, although Ash had no idea how he could have been serious with that order. Dragalge was in no position to be dodging anything. The supersonic sound waves easily struck and it was clear that Dragalge's eyes had gone cloudy and the attack was a success. Ash could see the fury on Remo's face as his confused dragon type plummeted to the water.

"Hit it with acrobatics before it lands!" Ash ordered. Noivern nodded and shot through the air in his blue light again, not bothering with his dancing build up. He slammed hard into Dragalge and the latter's descent to the water beneath was sped up. There was a huge splash and then it emerged and started banging its head against a rock, still confused.

"Snap out of it!" Remo shouted. "Use thunderbolt!" Dragalge's only response was to continue to mindlessly slam its head against a rock.

Ash smirked. This was it, now. He was about to take the early lead. "Noivern, finish this up. Boomburst followed by dragon claw!" Noivern's pleasure at this early success was clear. Ash thought he could feel the dragon type's emotions himself. He shot up into the air once more and then flapped his wings again, screeching. The blasts of blue energy shot down and smack into poor Dragalge and a splash from one of the explosions carried it into the air. This was where things would end. Noivern rocketed down, taking full advantage of his opportunity, and pulled back a claw as it started to glow green. He then slashed forward, just as he reached Dragalge, and struck the sea dragon with full force. It shot back down towards the water, although unfortunately for it and Remo, it slammed into a rock rather than the water. And, as Ash had planned, it didn't move again.

"Dragalge is unable to battle. Noivern is the winner!" the referee announced, holding up a flag.

"Yeah! Great job, Noivern!" Ash shouted, as Noivern landed on a rock in front of him and spread his wings proudly. Ash took a quick glance at one of the monitors and felt satisfaction rise up further as he saw Dragalge's picture disappear and one of the pokeball symbols go black.

"There we have it, folks," the announcer called. "Ash's Noivern helps the youngster take the early lead. It's still early, though. We'll just have to see what else Remo has to counter Ash's quick thinking and devastatingly powerful attacks."

Ash thanked Noivern once more and then recalled him. He'd make sure to save him for later. He pulled out his next pokeball and watched Remo do the same. "Don't think you're gonna win, because of that, kid," Remo warned. "I've got a lot more up my sleeve." He twirled his umbrella with one hand, while holding up his pokeball. "Just you watch." He threw out his pokeball and shouted, "Kingdra, you're up!"

Ash clicked his pokeball and enlarged it. He threw it out, calling out his next Pokemon's name and shouting, "I choose you!"