Leave it to Serena

Serena and the others were still at the edge of Santalune City.
"So now that we have our first gym badges where to next?" Ash asked.
"I think the next gym is in Cyllage City." Red said looking at his map.
"To get to Cyllage City we have to go back through Lumoise City." Serena said.
"You're right we do."
"Since we're going through Lumoise again I thought I'd show you guys some placed I really like to go to when I visit the city with my dad."
"Really that sounds amazing!" Bonnie said.
"Well let's get going then!" Ash said as he sprinted towards route four with Pikachu on his shoulder.
"To Lumoise!" Red shouted as he followed close behind.
"I'm right behind you!" Serena said following close behind Ash.
"Let's go!" Bonnie said.
"Seriously guys slow down!" Clemont said as he tried to catch up.
After an hour on route four Ash and the others were moving down a dirt road in the wooded areas.
"You know if we're heading back to Lumoise City may be we should try to face the gym later again." Ash said.
"Uh, well the gym leader there usually only takes challenges from trainers with four badges." Clemont said.
"Yeah, remember when we tried to see him last time and we didn't have four badges." Red said.
"What happened?" Serena asked. Ash and Red went over what happened.
"He shocked you!"
"Yeah we were pretty surprised too."
"Then again you were shocked twice that day right Ash."
"Twice?" Serena said.
"Pikachu wasn't quite so fond of Ash when they first met." Serena looked over and saw Pikachu sitting on Ash's shoulder and found that hard to believe. Moments later Ash could hear what sounded like a small stomach growl. It took him a moment before he realized it was Pikachu.
"Are you hungry buddy?" 
"Pika" Pikachu said as he put his hands against his stomach. Bonnie opened up the small hand bag where she kept her Skitty.
"Skitty are you hungry to?" 
"Skitty!"
"Maybe should feed all the Pokémon." Red said. Ash and the others let out their Pokémon and got out the Pokémon food.
"Eat up guys." Just before the Pokémon could start eating there was some rustling in the bushes near the side of the road.
"Did you guys hear that?" Ash asked. The rustling continued until a small Pokémon came out of the bushes. The Pokémon was small with black and white fur. the Pokémon had a round head with a green leaf hanging out of its mouth.
"What is that?" Ash said as he opened his pokedex.
"Pancham, the Playful Pokémon. Though it tries to look tough, Pancham has trouble being taken seriously by opponents.". Ash noticed that the Pancham in the pokedex had a very sinister looking expression on its face where is this one seemed relatively innocent looking.
"That's weird why would the pokedex make Pancham look so sinister?" Serena said.
"I think the real thing is so much cuter." Bonnie said. The Pancham noticed Charmander and his bowl of food. he rushed over in front of the bull and looked down at his as Charmander looked up at him. Charmander noticed the Pancham had a very excited look on his face as he started his food and gave them an uneasy look back.
"Char." He said nervously. The Pancham almost violently started eating Charmander's food.
"Char!"
"Hey stop that!" Red shouted. The Pancham cleaned the bowl out in a matter of moments. Charmander's face turned more red than usual as he screamed "Charmander!". The Pancham let out a small belch and a relief breath.
"Char, Charmander!" Charmander screamed as he unleashed flamethrower at the Pancham. The smaller Pokémon ducked down avoiding the fire and then hit Charmander in the gut with arm thrust.
"Charmander!" Red said. Charmander was now even angrier as he got up.
"Charmander use Growl." Charmander or growled at Pancham lowering his attack strength. The Pancham tried arm thrust again but this time and Charmander was ready.
"Charmander dodge and use Scratch." Charmander moved to the side avoiding the arm thrust and scratched Pancham across the face with his right claws. The Pancham lurched back as it tried to regain its composure.
"Perfect now use Flamethrower." 
"Char mander!" Charmander screamed as he unleashed flamethrower. The flamethrower and goals Pancham for several moments before he fell to the ground. Red took out a Poké ball and threw it forward.
"Poke Ball go!" The Poke Ball hit the Pancham and sent it inside. Red and the others watched carefully as the Poke Ball shook and flashed. After 20 seconds it stopped revealing he was caught.
"Alright I caught him." Red said before he walked over and picked up the Poke Ball. Despite winning his battle against Pancham, Charmander was still disappointed his lunch was gone. Pikachu felt bad for Charmander and moved his bowl next to him.
"Pika." 
"Char." The two Pokémon started eating from the bowl together.
"Aw that was nice of you Pikachu." Ash said. After the Pokémon finished eating their trainers returned them and they continued towards Lumoise.
"So Serena if you met Ash and Red before, when did you guys first meet?" Clemont asked.
"Yeah tell us the story!" Bonnie said.
"Well it happened many years ago, I was my dad was doing some work with the Kanto air force and he heard about Professor Oak's summer camp. My mom thought it would be fun for me if I went there and learned about Pokémon."
Several years ago Serena was a little girl in the woods near Pallet Town. Earlier that day professor Oak had taken all the children into the woods to look for wild Pokémon to observe. Serena had become separated from the others and was now completely lost. Young Serena was getting more and more scared as she tried to find the others.
"Guys! Where is everyone!" Serena said trying to find the other campers. Suddenly Serena heard rustling in the bushes in front of her and got scared. When a Poliwag jumped out scaring Serena. In fear Serena jumped to the ground and slammed her right knee into a Poliwag walked away leaving Serena on the ground hurt.
"I didn't even want to come to this camp." Serena said as her eyes started to tear up. 
"Mama!" She cried. Moments the bushes started to rustle again and Serena got scared again. To Serena's surprise a boy about her age with Brown eyes and Raven black hair emerged from the bush .
"Poliwag where did you go?" The boy said. As he looked around he saw Serena on the ground. He walked over to her and knelt down.
"Hey are you alright? What are you doing here all alone?" He asked.
"I got lost and I hit my knee, it really hurts. Who are you?" 
"I'm Ash, who are you?"
"Serena." Ash looked at Serena's knee for a moment.
"I think I have something that can help you." Ash said as he took out a white and blue handkerchief and wrapped her knee.
"Pain go away!" He said as he put it on her knee. Serena tried to get up but her knee still hurt.
"I don't think I can."
"Don't give up until the end." Ash said. Ash helped Serena stand up and she fell into his arms.
"There you stood! Come on let's get back to camp." Ash held Serena's hand and lead her back to the camp.
"After that Ash and I became close friends until I had to go back to Kalos." Serena said.
"So how did you know Ash and I were here in Kalos?" Red asked.
"I saw the Garchomp incident. After that I thought I'd come find you." Moments later the ground started to shake. Ash turned and saw what looked like a pack of Rhyhorn sprinting at them.
"Lookout!" The group quickly moved to the side of the road as the Rhyhorn sprinted past them. The group noticed that there were men riding on the Rhyhorn's backs.
"Hey there were men riding them." Clemont said.
"They must have been racers." Serena said.
"You mean like your mom?" Ash said.
"Yeah, they must have come from Nuvela." Serena said.
"Nuvela?" Red said.
"Nuvela it's a town between Lumoise and Santalune City. I rested there two nights ago." Serena said. Red looked at the map again and realized Serena was right.
"Oh man." Moments later a police motorcycle with officer Jenny riding on it drove up to them.
"Hey what are you kids doing here this road is closed." She said.
"We're sorry , we just got here from Santalune City."
"Well you'd better follow me." Jenny lead the group to Nuvela. The town was mostly rural with many farms. Jenny lead them to a hilltop where they were able to get a good view of the race.
"Wow that actually looks pretty exciting." Ash said.
"Well if you'd like you could always try."
"Really." Ash said with a hint of excitement.
"Sure there is another race being held tomorrow and anyone with a Rhyhorn can enter. There is also a Rhyhorn rental in town."
"Alright I think I'll enter it."
"Are you sure Ash you don't even know the basics of riding Rhyhorn." Red said.
"I'm sure I can learn it besides, Serena said she knows about Rhyhorn racing. You wouldn't mind helping me out with that would you?" Serena was amazed at how open and excited Ash was about something he had never even done before.
"Sure, I could teach you what I know." Jenny led them to a corral filled with Rhyhorn.
"Now all you have to do is pick one." Jenny said before she left.
"Sweet." Ash and Serena walked into the coral together. Serena looked around at the Rhyhorn for a minute before she found one she admired.
"I think this one will suit you good." Ash knelt down next to the Rhyhorn as it drank from an urn filled with water.
"Hello Rhyhorn my name is Ash." The Rhyhorn looked up at Ash and had a rather happy expression on it's face.
"Well it seems friendly enough." Red said.
"Serena really knew which one to pick." Clemont said. A few minutes later Serena came out of the rental building in a pink jump suit with a pink heart emblem on the thigh and her hair tied into a ponytail with a pink ribbon.
"Wow Serena that looks so Stylish." Bonnie said.
"Thanks, I added this emblem myself." Serena said. Ash came out with a blue jumpsuit on and Pikachu wearing Ash's hat.
"That jumpsuit looks good on you Serena" Ash said as Pikachu jumped down from his shoulder and went over by Red. Hearing Ash say that her face turned red as she tried to hide her expression.
"Uh thanks." Serena lead Ash over to the Rhyhorn who was sleeping on the ground. Ash was about to wake it when Serena grabbed his hand.
"Wait don't try it like that Ash you'll startle him. The best way to wake him is to caress his horn." Ash did what she said and the Rhyhorn calmly woke up and yawned as he got onto his feet.
"Wow that was brilliant Serena." Serena blushed a little.
"Oh well my mother made sure I knew stuff like that. Alright now climb onto Rhyhorn." Ash got up and tried to get into Rhyorn's saddle. However, he put his foot on the wrong part of the saddle and it made him loose his balance and fall clean over Rhyhorn and slam into the ground.
"Okay, it's alright just some bad luck." Serena said as she helped him up.
"Alright let's try again." Ash said as he tried to get on the other side. Once again his put his foot in the wrong spot and he tripped over the saddle landing on the other side. Serena sighed as she put her hand on her forehead.
"Pika." Pikachu said sounding a little disappointing. 
"Come on Ash it's getting into a freaking saddle how hard can that be." Red said.
"It's not as easy as it looks Red!" Ash said as he got up.
"Serena I'm clearly not doing something right could you please show me how to get on this thing the right way."
"UH well."
"Come on Serena he's going to race tomorrow and he can't even get on the Rhyhorn." Red said. Ash glared at Red for a moment before looking back at Serena.
"I hate to say it but he's right, I can't do this without your help." hearing Ash say this made her blush a little.
"Well okay, just watch closely." Serena slowly stepped into the saddle and took a seat on Rhyhorn's back. Ash watched closely how Serena did it.
"You see Ash it's so simple." Red said in a slightly mocking tone. Ash ignored his brother and slowly climbed aboard Rhyhorn in front of Serena.
"Great job Ash you got it." Serena said. Seeing a personal opportunity Serena slowly put her arms around hims upper waist and could feel his lower abs. Her cheeks instantly turned red as she tried to hide her face behind Ash's head.
"So how do we get him to start moving?" Ash asked.
"Oh to do that you just tap the sides." Serena said as she tapped the side of her foot against Rhyhorn's side. Rhyhorn slowly started moving forward.
"Wow it really worked" Bonnie said.
"This is amazing Serena." Ash said. Serena was almost overwhelmed by what was happening, her and Ash were both riding a Rhyhorn together. He was asking her for guidance and getting closer with her. For a long time Serena had realized that she thought of Ash as more than just a friend. Now she was with him again and it felt good. She slowly rested her head against his shoulders without him noticing.
"So how do we get him to start running?" Serena was about to say something when the Rhyhorn started to move sporadically. It spurred up and forced Ash and Serena off his back and onto the ground.
"Ash! Serena!" Red shouted as the others gasped. Serena landed on her back hard. Not a moment later Ash landed on top of her facing the ground.
"Ouch." They both said. Ash lifted up his head until his face was slightly above hers. Both of their faces turned red.
"Uh, we should get up." Ash said nervously as he tried to get up. Not a moment later all of the Rhyhorn sprinted over and around them.
"Guys!" Red said. 
"Pika!" The large Pokémon all simultaneously started licking the two of them and forced Ash back down and onto Serena. The two of them continued to blush as they lay on the ground with each other.
"Aw that looks so fun!" Bonnie said as she ran over and into the group of Rhyhorn.
"Bonnie no!" Clemont said. Both Pikachu and Red noticed Ash at Serena's expressions during the encounter. It was at that moment Serena realized that Rhyhorn weren't is bad as she thought they were. She looked back at Ash and for a moment lost all her fear. She grabbed him by the head and started kissing him.
"Serena, are you okay?" Ash asked. Serena's eyes opened and she realized she was having another daydream.
"Oh yeah, I'm okay."
Hours passes, Serena and the others watched as Ash got better and better at riding the Rhyhorn. By the time sunset came Ash was riding the Rhyhorn across the coral. Red and the others are very impressed by how much she was improving.
Serena was the most impressed, watching him ride the Rhyhorn made her remember her own experiences with riding Rhyhorn. All of her experiences had been bad ones, but now she actually had a fond memory of training with a Rhyhorn and it was all because of Ash.
When Ash got off he Let Pikachu back onto his shoulder. "Well I think I'm ready for the race tomorrow."
"Well you've been practicing hard, you earned it bro." Ash looked back at Serena.
"Thanks for all your help Serena, I wouldn't have gotten this far without you." Serena blushed a little.
"Thanks." The next morning Red, Serena, and the others were in the bleachers watching as the race got underway. Ash had gotten into position on his Rhyhorn with Pikachu on his shoulder.
"Good luck Ash!" Red shouted.
"You can win!" Bonnie shouted. Ash looked down at Rhyhorn. 
"We can do this." The Rhyhorn seemed excited for the race. The race official came out near the side of the track with a starting gun.
"Racers, on your mark." He said before he fired the gun. The other Rhyhorn quickly sprinted ahead , but Ash's seemed startled and bucked around a bit before running forward.
"Alright he could have had a better start." Clemont said.
"He can still do this." Serena said. The spectators could still see the racers through video cameras placed around the track. Further down the track 3 men made their way to the video cameras. One by one the cameras lost their feed.
"Hey what's going on?" Clemont said.
"Something is going on in the track. We should find out what's going on." Red said. The 4 got up and started moving towards the woods. Elsewhere on the racetrack Ash was riding his Rhyhorn when he noticed that he hadn't seen another racer.
"Something isn't right here."
"Pika." Moments later Ash was knocked off his Rhyhorn and entangled in a blue trap.
"What the?" Ash looked up and saw the other racers unconscious on the side of the road.
"What's going on here?" Ash's Rhyhorn was about to stop and go back for him when suddenly blue beams of light shot out of the ground around him and Pikachu.
"PIkachu ! Rhyhorn!" Moments later 3 men came out of the woods. The men were wearing black uniforms with large Red R's on the chest areas.
"Alright I think that's the last one, and look we got a Pikachu too." One of the men said. The 3 Team Rocket grunts revealed an entire train of caged Rhyhorn as they attach Ash's Rhyhorn's cage to the back.
"Hey stop!" One of the Team Rocket grunts turned to him.
"Oh look this one's still conscious."
"Just leave him there's nothing he can do." One of the grunts got to the front car and started driving down the road as the other two grunts climbed onto the last car.
"Stop! You won't get away with this!"
"We already have twerp." Moments later the ground under the tram started to shake. Bunnelby shot out of the ground in front of the tram and hit the front car with Mud Shot. When the Mud Shot hit the tram's controls the entire train stopped moving.
"What the!?" The driver said. Moments later Clemont appeared on the side of the road trying to catch his breath.
"Clemont!" Ash said with much relief. Not a moment later Ash felt someone grab him and lifted him up.
"Why do I always have to save you little brother." Red said as he turned off the mechanism holding the bonds on Ash.
"Guys you came."
"When we saw the camera's go out we thought someone was wrong." Serena said.
"Team Rocket." Ash said.
"More brats, great let's teach them a lesson." One of the grunts said as he got to the back of the tram with the other two grunts and took out a Poke Ball. Two of the grunts sent out Zubat's while the middle one sent out an Inkay.
"Fletchinder I choose you." Red said as he sent out his Fletchinder.
"Fennekin go!" Serena said. Fletchinder and Fennekin came out as Bunnelby and Clemont joined them.
"Zubat use Wing Attack."
"Inkay use Psybeam."
"Fletchinder dodge and use Quick Attack."
"Bunnelby use Double Kick!"
"Fennekin use Ember!" Inkay unleashed Psybeam at Fletchinder but missed when Fletchinder moved fast enough. Once Fletchinder was clear he slammed into Inkay with quick attack. Meanwhile Bunnelby waited for the Zubat to get close then jumped clean over him and kicked him into the ground with both his feet.
Fennekin saw Zubat flying straight at her, she opened her mouth and unleashed ember right where Zubat was going to be. Zubat flew straight into the ember and was knocking to the ground.
"This battle is far from over." The middle grunt said. All 3 of the Team Rocket Pokemon got up and in front of their trainers.
"Inkay use Hypnosis."
"Zubat use Supersonic." Inkay's eyes glowed red as he looked into Fletchinder's eyes and hypnotized him. Moments later Fletchinder felt drowse and fell asleep.
"Fletchinder!". At the same time the two Zubat let out piercing wails that made Serena and the others cover their ears.
"What is that!?" Bonnie said.
"It's Supersonic, they're trying to confuse our pokemon." Red said. When the Zubat's stopped Fennekin and Bunnelby were stumbling around with confused eyes.
"Oh no." Clemont said.
"Perfect now Inkay use Psybeam."
"Zubat use Wing Attack."
"Quick fennekin use Ember!"
"Wait Serena no!" Ash started. Fennekin tried to use ember but she was so confused she unleashed ember at Clemont.
"What!" Clemont started before he was hurled the the ground covered in soot.
"Clemont I'm so sorry!"
"Serena you have to be careful when your pokemon is confused." Ash said. Inkay's Psybeam hit Fletchinder and hurled him back as the two Zubat hit Fennekin and Bunnelby with Wing Attack.
"Oh no." Serena said.
"Come on guys don't give up!" Ash said.
"Let's finish em, Inkay use Psybeam!"
"Zubat use wing attack". Inkay unleashed a Psybeam right at Fletchinder.
"Come on Fletchinder wake up, please!" Just before the Psybeam could reach him, Fletchlinder woke up and flew into the air, narrowly avoiding the Psybeam.
"Great! Now use quick attack!" Fletchinder quickly flew forward and knocked Inkay out with Quick Attack. Meanwhile the two Zubat were still flying at Bunnelby and Fennekin.
"Fennekin use ember, try to focus on Zubat. Zubat." Serena said.
"Bunnelby do the same with mud shot." Despite being confused the two pokemon did everything they could to focus and unleashed their attacks. The Ember and Mud Shot hit their marks and the two Zubat were knocked out.
"We did it!" Clemont said.
"You won ! You won!" Bonnie said.
"Uh Don, now what?" One of the grunts said.
"Now you go to jail." The middle grunt turned around just in time to see the end of an elbow hit him across the face and knock him to the ground. The other two grunts jumped back when they saw it was a trio Kalos soldiers with two Lairon and a Gabite. The soldiers were wearing the same uniforms as the ones Ash and the others saw in Lumoise City and had Mp5s like those ones as well.
"You kids shouldn't be entangling yourselves with Team Rocket. These guys are dangerous." One of the soldiers said as his men put handcuffs on the 3 team rocket grunts.
"Well we knew my brother was in trouble we couldn't just sit there and do nothing." Red said.
"In either case I'm just impressed you kids managed to beat them." One of the other soldiers said. The lead soldiers walked to the front of the tram and deactivated the cages , freeing all the Rhyhorn.
"Pikachu!" Ash said with relief as his pikachu ran back over to him.
"Pardon me for asking but what are you guys doing here?" Serena said.
"There have been reports of team rocket all of Kalos, since the police have had their hands full with them it was decided the national guard should lend some assistance. So our CO had us search this area for any trace of Team Rocket." The lead soldier said.
That was when Serena remembered, Nurse Joy told her that the army was being deployed to deal with Team Rocket. A few moments later the sounds of a police siren could be heard as officer Jenny arrived at the seen on her motorcycle.
"What's going on here?" She said.
"I'm Staff Sergeant David Willes, these are my men. We were sent here by our CO, Lieutenant Baudin, to look for traces of Team Rocket. We'll be taking these men into custody."
"Oh okay, thanks for taking care of them." Jenny said.
"We didn't arrive until they were beaten, these kids took care of their Pokemon." One of the soldiers said.
"What?" Nurse Joy said confused as she looked at Serena and the others.
Later that night Ash and the others were at the pokemon center. Serena felt proud of herself and Fennekin for how they stood up to team rocket again. She decided it was time to call her mother and tell her how she was doing.
"You got in a fight with Team Rocket! Didn't I tell you to watch out for them!" Grace said over the phone.
"Mom I'm fine, we bested Team Rocket."
"Really." Grace said surprised.
"Yes, and these are my new friends." Serena said showing Ash and the others.
"Hello, I'm Clemont."
"I'm his sister Bonnie."
"I'm Red."
"And I'm his brother Ash, this is my Pikachu." 
"Pika." Grace realized that Ash was the same boy who fell of Prism tower but knew she remembered that name before.
"Wait a minute, is this the same Ash you've always." Grace started before Serena's face turned red and she almost screamed.
"Uh Mother, I didn't show you the pokemon professor Sycamore gave me". Serena said as she held Fennekin in front of the monitor.
"Ohh it's adorable, you made a great choice Serena. So Ash you really participated in the race today."
"Yeah, Serena taught me how." Serena almost became stiff with fear. Now that her mother knew she had done that she would never let her avoid riding Rhyhorn.
"Well Serena that was nice of you, but I've been thinking. For the last few years I may have been pushing Rhyhorn racing on you even when you didn't like it."
"What?" Serena said dumbfounded by what she was hearing.
"I think it's time you decided your own dreams and path."
"Thank you mother, I will."
"Have a fun journey and please try to stay safe."
"You don't have to worry, she's got us to look out for her." Ash said. Ash and the others left the pokemon center and started heading down route four.
"We should reach Lumoise City in 2 days." Red said.
"Okay and we should be able to reach Arles before it gets late tomorrow." Serena said. Ash, Pikachu, Clemont, and Bonnie all turned to Red who had a sweat drop going across his head.
"Red look at the map again." Red slowly opened the map and then closed it.
"Well why are you so mad at me, Clemont and Bonnie have lived in Kalos their whole lives not me!"
"Red!" Ash yelled. Serena laughed a little to herself. She moved up closer to Ash and kept pace with him as they continued towards Lumoise City.