Green's POV

I could never live in a city.

There's nothing calmer than watching the morning fog roll off the lake, the cool fresh air, and the faint sounds of Pokemon talking to each other. All that and a good book and I could sit out here forever.

The wooden chair has never felt comfier as I sit at the end of the dock. The waves gently roll underneath the dock, filling the air with ambient noise.

I had trouble sleeping last night so I've been out here awhile now. The other three should be up by now though.

"I'll miss you," I say to the chair and close my book.

I hop up the stairs cut into the natural granite and make it the back deck of the cottage.

"Something smells good," I mumble. "Umm?"

The calmness of the lake doesn't match the energy currently going on in the kitchen. I didn't even know we had food, let alone the amount of food that looks like it's been thrown around.

I study the culprits.

Serena has a pink apron on over her clothes that is covered in flour.

Ash is holding a bag of flour.

And Gold has his hands up in a surrender position.

Oh and Pikachu and Vaporeon are laughing mischievously on the island.

"It was GoAsPikacyou!" They all yell.

"It was me?" I frown at the navy haired trainer.

"You left us unattended," He argues and I roll my eyes.

"Cooking with Ash is always an adventure," Serena sighs and takes the bag from the boy. "Especially with Pikachu."

"Pikachu and I belong on the battlefield," Ash scratches the back of his head.

Serena throws a rag in his face. "Not yet."

He obliges and the two start cleaning up.

Gold resumes his duty which was frying bacon, the source of the good smell wafting outside. Beside the bacon are pancakes that seem to be smoking more than I should.

"Is multitasking difficult?" I pick up a spatula and flip them over. A little dark but not burnt.

"Pancakes are their responsibility," He points to the couple cleaning up. "But I guess I can take over, you go relax."

"I can help," I sit up on the dark oak counter, playing with the spatula in my hand. "It was nice of you to make breakfast."

"It's the least we could do," Gold smiles. "You have any maple syrup around here?"

"Should be in the cupboard above me," I say and lean over to take the finished pancakes off the pan.

Gold pours batter into the pan for a couple more.

"Watch your head," He leans over me.

I duck, semi-burying my head against his chest. His black shirt smells fresh so he must've showered this morning. I like the smell.

Of the soap of course, not him.

He grabs the syrup and moves back to his side of the oven.

"So what are we going to do with that?" Gold points to the sword sitting on the kitchen table.

"It's a secret," I wink, looking up momentarily from the pancakes. "But we should probably wait until night."

"Good idea," He nods while taking the bacon off the heat.

"Breakfast time!" Ash cheers, tossing aside the rag he was using to clean.

I hop off the counter with a plate of pancakes.

"So we have all day to burn," Gold says as we dive in.

"You should train," I joke.

"Probably," He sighs. "Or I could fall back asleep."

"Come on Gold we can train together," Ash offers, his first plate of food already gone. "Pikachu is itching for a battle."

"I also want to do some training," Serena says. "It's been awhile."

"What about you Green?" Ash asks.

"I also probably should," I agree. "I really should catch a water type."

"Oh right," Serena says. "We haven't really spent any time out of Los Lumeles to catch Pokemon."

"That's our goal then today," Ash smiles. "Mission catch Green a water type."

I guess this could be a fun side quest for the day.

"Where are we going to find a water type though?" Gold questions with a blank face.

We all look at him confused.

"Sarcasm guys," He sighs and we laugh, mostly at him.

We finish our breakfast and head out to the dock.

Gold stops at the backyard. "I'm going to stay up here," He says and we all nod.

I don't blame him if he's had enough of the water this week.

"I'll stay up here for a bit too," I also stop. "You two go do some training and then we can go searching for Pokemon later."

"You don't need to stick behind," Gold says.

"Someone needs to actually train you how to battle," I joke and move across from him in the yard.

"Hey I just beat the same Pokemon Ash did," He argues.

"With brute force," I claim. "Only because of that Kabutops... that you didn't even train."

"A win's a win," Gold shrugs and releases all his Pokemon.

Three Districts in and he's already amassed quite the team. Eevee in her Vaporeon form, Hisuian Zorua, Swablu, Crustle, Scizor, Lanturn, and Kabutops.

"How am I supposed to train if I can only use the Pokemon in one district?" He does make a fair point. 

There's a few dual types that will come into play again eventually but it may be awhile. For now, he doesn't have an ice type which is the next stop.

"True," I frown. "Other than Eevee, we need to focus on you."

"What type am I?" Gold asks.

"Useless type," I roll my eyes. "You need to learn how to actually battle, not just yell commands."

"Hmm," He frowns.

I look at my selection of Pokemon, Litleo, Starly, Larvesta, Beautifly, and Whismur. Whismur unfortunately won't see much action unless we end up back in the Normal District.

"Litleo," I choose my starter Pokemon.

The brown lion cub Pokemon perks his head and runs over.

"Pick a Pokemon Gold," I point at him.

"Kabutops I choose you!" He yells.

"No," I roll my eyes. "Kabutops you go find a stronger opponent."

"Kab," It sulks away and walks down towards the water.

"Sorry," I wave. "Try again Gold."

"I didn't see a problem," He laughs and scans the rest of his Pokemon. "Zorua."

The ghost and normal type Pokemon runs away from the other Pokemon to join the battle. Its droopy orange eyes stare at us, the white fur making it look a little overdressed for the warm sunny day.

"Your move," I wink.

"Scratch!" He smirks.

Zorua runs along the beaten grass, throwing up all kinds of pine needles and debris.

"Ember!" I yell back.

Litleo roars a burst of flames that engulf Zorua. The scorched Pokemon charges through and still delivers the scratch attack.

But Litleo is ready for another one.

"Bite!" Immediately after taking the attack from Zorua, Litleo bites down to deliver a super effective attack.

Zorua howls in pain.

"Scratch again!" Zorua gets up and extends its claws.

"No no no," I wave and stop the battle. "Why would you try that again?"

"It worked last time," He frowns.

"But then you took the bite attack," I recap. "Bite is Litleo's best move against Zorua, you need to stay away from it at all cost."

Gold doesn't give a chirpy response.

Which means he knows I'm right.

"Curse," Gold says and the illusion of a sword strikes Zorua in the back.

The Pokemon crumbles to its knees. 

This is quite the hail mary move.

"Litleo ember while it's down!"

One hit and Zorua will be finished.

Flames shoot through the sky towards the fallen Pokemon.

"Shadow sneak," Gold says calmly and Zorua fades into the ground.

The embers strike the empty grass, burning the ends slightly.

"Not bad Gold," I remark. "But one hit and you'll be down."

"I guess you'll have to hit us then," He smirks as Zorua appears behind Litleo and tackles it to the ground.

"Bite!" I yell but the ghostly sword appears in the air and goes right through Litleo. "Litleo!"

I cringe as the Pokemon shrieks.

"Get away," Gold orders and Zorua backs off.

Litleo works his way back to his feet. "Lit!" It roars.

"That's right," I smile. "Ember!"

"Shadow sneak!"

Like instant replay, the fire type attack again misses the ghost type. Except we're ready this time.

"Ember straight down!"

The second Zorua starts to appear above ground, Litleo shoots flames below it. They splash against the grass, going in all directions around the fire type.

Zorua becomes engulfed in flames and fails to deliver the attack.

"That's enough," I say and Gold nods.

"You were ready that time," He says and hands Zorua some berries that perk it back up.

"Can't do the same move twice," I lecture him. "I could plan ahead that time. That's what the best battlers do."

I can tell he's annoyed but he is listening.

"Oh so you're one of the best now?" He jokes.

"Well of course," I flip my hair. "Just kidding, the best like my Dad can think two or three moves ahead."

"Or like Ash?" He adds.

"Not exactly," I sit down on a log. "Ash is a good abttler because his out-of-the-box thinking is so unpredictable. He doesn't need a plan because he just figures it out."

"I don't think that's the strategy for me," He says and I nod.

"We just need to get you past the District battles," I agree. "Let's work on some defence to offence combos."

Ash's POV

"Lapras I choose you!" I bring out the water and ice type Pokemon. Its light blue skin blends in with the sky and its grey shell looks as smooth as ever.

After being reunited in Galar, I can't wait to battle with Lapras again.

"Aw you're so cute," Serena pets the Pokemon's head from the shore. It coos and rubs her small horn against Serena's hand.

"I thought we were battling," I put my arms on my hips.

"What happened to patient Ash?" She sticks out her tongue.

"I've been waiting to battle your Milotic," I argue. "It looked so strong at the Grand Festival."

"Oh it is," She says and backs away from Lapras. "Milotic!"

Within seconds, the beige serpent leaps out of the lake. A faint rainbow appears in the falling water before returning to the lake.

"May told me you have some practice with contest battles," Serena smirks.

"I've won a ribbon or two," I say and Pikachu cheers from my shoulder. "Lapras and I can beat you."

"We'll see," She says in a sing song voice. "As the actual coordinator, I will be the judge."

"Okay," I give her a thumbs up. "Ready Lapras?"

"Laaa," It gets a determined look on its face and swims out further into the lake.

I wait a couple moments for Milotic to get into a battle position as well. It stays mostly underwater, with its head and blue mermaid tail sticking out of the water.

"Body Slam!" I command.

Lapras zips along the water with pretty good speed. All that swimming around the Orange Islands and leading its herd really built up its strength.

A wake in the lake forms from the speed.

"Splash Milotic!" Serena yells back.

Splash? Is she serious?

Milotic spins and slaps its tail against the water. This throws up a huge wave in front of Lapras who hesitates as the wave crashes through. 

The lake calms but only Lapras is above the water.

"I can hear your points dropping!" Serena taunts from further down the shore. "Twister!"

The water churns around Lapras, slowly swirling around. Water droplets start to collect in the air, forming a small water funnel.

"Not so fast, freeze it with Ice Beam!" I yell.

The water stops swirling around as it turn to ice. A tall crystal structure now sits in the middle of the lake, which Lapras presumably somewhere inside.

"Now use a super powered disarming voice!" I yell.

It takes a couple second but then the echoing sound of the attack radiates through the area. I can only imagine how strong it is below the water.

"Break it with breaking swipe!" Serena asks for another dragon type attack.

Milotic shoots out of the water, its blue and pink scales sparkling in the sun. Serena knows just how to make her Pokemon look good.

Milotic flips and its long tail glows brightly with purple energy. It slices down the entire ice structure, splitting it into all sorts of ice chunks that spin through the air and crashes into the lake.

Milotic relentlessly splits the entire structure, finishing off with a hard blow to Lapras who couldn't go anywhere. Both Pokemon go splashing underwater on contact.

Another big blow.

"Freeze-dry!" I yell.

With Milotic finally in close proximity, the ice type attack deals super effective damage to the water type Pokemon. We can't see the attack which would probably hurt my contest score, but the lake surface starting to freeze indicates that the attack was successful.

It may have done enough damage to completely knock Milotic out.

"Is it almost time?" I ask Serena.

"Enough for my grande finale," She quips and my eyes widen.

Milotic isn't down yet.

"Dazzling Whirpool!"

A combo move."

The entire bay in front of the cottage starts to move.

I can only watch in awe as the dazzling gleam works its way into the water, giving it a few pink stripes among the blue. Like Serena's fedora clashing against my jacket.

The water starts to rise into an enormous pink and blue whirpool. I can see faintly that Lapras is trapped within it.

Eventually Milotic appears, spinning furiously on the surface of the water to maintain the momentum of the water. Milotic then throws the whirpool up into the sky, temporarily dropping the lake level by a few metres.

And then it comes down in a thundering crash. I block my eyes from the splash and try to  pick out Lapras.

"Time!" Serena cheers gleefully.

"Aw man," I groan. "Thanks Lapras."

"La," It looks down but I cheer it up with a berry.

"You were great," Serena comforts the Pokemon as well before giving Milotic praise. "Unfortunately your trainer needs some more work."

"I can't compete with that," I scratch the back of my head. "I can't wait to watch you compete again."

"Mhm," She nods, playing with her long honey blonde hair.

Serena sits on the edge of the shore, staring out at the water.

I join her, kicking off my shoes so my feet can dangle in the water.

I'd expect more gloating but she's gone kind of quiet.

"I don't know if I'm going to compete again," Serena speaks again.

"What?!" My head turns sharply. "But I thought you loved being a coordinator?!"

"I do," She looks back. "And I love training for contests or even performances with my Pokemon but-"

She trails off.

"But what?" I scooch closer to her and grab her hand. She always does this when I'm thinking too hard.

Which is rare.

"But it just doesn't feel important anymore."

"Important," I question. "Your performances inspire people all over," I say. "Isn't that what Aria said?"

"Yea she did," She nods but doesn't seem convinced. "It just seems that people, especially in Elemente, need a lot more than that."

She's right. There seems to be a lot of problems here that contests and gym battles can't solve. 

"Your performances would make a lot of people happy," I smile and squeeze her hand. "Sounds like we need to have a contest to remember that."

"That may be difficult," Serena giggles.

"We'll make it happen," I give her a thumbs up and a big smile.

"You better find me some tougher competitors then," Serena winks and runs away.

"Hey!" I yell and chase her down the shore. "I want a rematch."

"No!" she yells back.

"SPHEEE!"