"I caught a Lapras!"
"Pi-Pikachu!"
Ash held the Poké Ball high, striking the pose. Pikachu mirrored it beside him. Some traditions didn't need updating.
With Lapras on the team, the roster needed adjusting. Ash used his Pokédex to transfer Pidgeot and Blastoise back to Oak's Laboratory. Poké Balls had a built-in one-way transfer function that didn't require external equipment. Mutual transfers between trainer and lab were still in development, according to Oak, but one-way sending worked fine for now.
The logic was simple. Charizard could handle any flying needs in the Orange Islands. Pidgeot's speed was built for cross-regional distances, not island-hopping. And with Lapras serving as ocean transport, Blastoise was freed up to return to the backyard and focus on what mattered: deepening its understanding of Aura Power.
Blastoise had found its own path among Ash's team, but finding a path and mastering it were different things. It needed to push harder just to keep pace with Charizard and the others.
If Ash could someday locate a divine power compatible with Blastoise's nature, the turtle could vault past the middle ranks and close the gap in a single leap. But that was a future problem. For now, honest training was the answer.
The three of them headed back to the Trovita Island Pokémon Centre. Ash had healed Lapras with Tokiwa Power, but a proper medical check was still the responsible move.
Mewtwo's psychic camouflage was active again, but this time Ash had it exclude Serena from the illusion. She sat in the waiting area, glancing left and right with open fascination. The people around them treated Ash like a stranger. To Serena, he looked exactly like himself.
"One of my Pokémon is using Psychic power to change how I appear to everyone else," Ash explained when he caught her staring. "You're the exception."
"That's incredible. What kind of Pokémon can do that?"
"A very strong one." He left it there.
Serena accepted the non-answer with the patience of someone used to mysteries. But curiosity was written across her face.
"By the way, Serena." Ash leaned forward, elbows on his knees. "How did you recognize me? When we met on the beach, I should have looked like a total stranger."
Inside her Poké Ball, Mewtwo was listening with equal interest. This question bothered her. Her psychic field had been flawless. There was no technical explanation for how a normal human girl had seen through it.
"Because your back looks like you." Serena said it as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "The way you stand, the way you hold your shoulders. The feeling was so strong that the face not matching didn't matter."
It sounded circular. "Your back looks like you" wasn't a real explanation. But that was the truth of it. Five years of absence, and Serena had identified Ash through posture, presence, and a Pikachu. Not logic. Instinct. The kind of familiarity that bypassed disguises because it was stored somewhere deeper than the visual cortex.
Five years without contact, and she'd recognised him through a psychic camouflage that could fool Champion-level Pokémon. The depth of her impression of Ash was almost frightening.
Misty, sitting beside Ash with her shoulder pressed against his, watched Serena's face as she spoke. The words were innocent enough. The look in her eyes was not.
She likes him.
Not "good impression." Not "friendly warmth." Misty had seen good impressions. Cynthia had a good impression of Ash. Several girls they'd encountered on the journey had shown similar interest. But good impressions didn't make you memorise someone's back well enough to see through psychic disguises after five years.
This was the real thing. Serena's feelings for Ash were as clear as daylight, practically radiating off her face, so obvious that even a stranger across the room could have read them.
And Ash?
Misty looked at her boyfriend.
His expression was one of pure, uncut amazement. Not at Serena's feelings. At her observation skills. He was marvelling at her perceptiveness like she'd performed a magic trick.
He hadn't noticed a single thing.
Misty's lip curled. Of course he didn't. If she hadn't confessed first, he'd still be calling her his "travel companion" ten years from now.
"That's incredible, Serena! Your observation skills are amazing. You'll definitely become a powerful Pokémon Trainer!" Ash gave her a thumbs up, beaming.
Serena's expression froze for a fraction of a second. A tiny crack in the excitement, quickly papered over. You didn't hear any of what I was saying underneath those words, did you?
She studied his face. It wasn't an act. There was no deflection, no strategic ignorance. Ash had genuinely processed her words at surface level and nothing deeper.
That was fine. She hadn't planned to bare her heart on a beach after a five-minute reunion. The feelings had leaked through because the moment had overwhelmed her. Under normal circumstances, she was better at keeping the lid on.
Besides, there was the matter of the girl sitting next to him. Serena let her gaze drift to Misty. Pressed against Ash's side. Shoulder to shoulder. The kind of closeness that went beyond friendship, beyond travel partnership. Either they were close relatives or they were together.
He has a girlfriend. That makes sense. Serena processed the reality without flinching. Ash was the Indigo Plateau Conference Champion at fifteen. Extraordinary in every dimension. Having a partner was the normal outcome.
But a girlfriend wasn't a wife. And in this era, exclusivity wasn't the universal standard. Gary Oak, who'd left Pallet Town alongside Ash, was rumoured to have six girlfriends already. At fifteen. The fact that Ash had only one was... notable. Almost quaint.
Serena wasn't the type to sabotage someone else's relationship. If Ash was devoted to Misty and there was no room for anyone else, she'd step back. But she'd need to see that for herself before she closed the door.
"Is Fennekin your starter, Serena?" Ash shifted topics with the effortless obliviousness of someone who had no idea an emotional calculation had just been completed across the table.
"Yes! I received Fennekin and came to Kanto right after. But I heard the Gyms here are really tough, so I thought I'd come to the Orange Islands first to train a bit and catch some more Pokémon."
"Wait, are you going to challenge the Orange League?" Ash's eyes lit up. A girl who wanted to take on a League challenge? An acquaintance, no less?
"No, no, no!" Serena waved both hands, head shaking back and forth. "I'm nowhere near that level! The Orange League's weakest Gym battles start at Mid Level. For a beginner with one Pokémon, that's a fantasy."
"Right now, I only have Fennekin. I figured I'd travel, see the islands, catch a few partners along the way. You need more than one Pokémon to challenge a Gym, right?"
"It's possible with one if it's strong enough, but for someone just starting out, building a diverse team is smarter. Gym Leaders' rosters are public information, so you can plan type matchups in advance. That's one of the challenger's biggest advantages."
Ash laid it out with the easy confidence of someone who'd internalised the knowledge so deep it came out conversational. Half a year ago, he'd been the one asking these questions. Now he was answering them. The shift in roles settled over him like a warm coat. He'd been taught by veterans his entire journey. For the first time, he could be the veteran.
He liked the feeling more than he'd expected.
Serena listened with the attentiveness of a student who would have paid tuition for this lecture. Being taught Pokémon strategy by Ash Ketchum, sitting across a table from the boy she'd carried in her heart for five years. If this was a dream, nobody was allowed to wake her up.
Misty interjected here and there, adding practical tips and correcting minor points. She wasn't shutting Serena out. Despite the low hum of territorial awareness in her chest, she couldn't bring herself to dislike this girl.
Serena's first act in their shared story had been to throw herself in front of an injured Pokémon against three opponents she couldn't beat. That kind of character earned respect, regardless of what romantic complications might follow.
Lapras's check-up finished without issues. Ash collected the Poké Ball from Nurse Joy and turned to Serena.
"Where are you headed next?"
"I... don't really have a plan."
Her blue eyes carried genuine confusion. The truth was that her original itinerary had been rendered obsolete the moment Ash appeared.
She'd come to the Orange Islands to train, catch Pokémon, earn Badges, and work her way into the Silver Conference. At the Silver Conference, she'd been certain she would meet Ash.
That plan had spanned months. Meeting him on the second island had compressed it into hours.
Two-thirds of her goal was accomplished just by standing here. She'd met Ash. She'd spoken to him. She'd confirmed that the boy who'd carried her through a forest was real and remembered her name.
The remaining third, telling him that the frightened little girl from the summer camp had grown up, had been swallowed by the shock of the actual reunion.
So now what? The compass she'd been following had brought her to the destination too early, and she hadn't packed a map for what came after.
"If you don't have a destination, come with us." Ash grinned. "I'll show you the world."
Misty wasn't surprised. If Ash hadn't said that, he wouldn't be Ash. Warm-hearted to a fault, collecting people the way he collected Pokémon. She'd known this was coming the moment Serena's directionless eyes had met Ash's helpful ones.
Did she want Serena to join? Honestly? Not entirely. Your boyfriend inviting his childhood friend to travel with you, a childhood friend you didn't know existed until twenty minutes ago, that was a specific flavour of uncomfortable no matter how reasonable the logic.
But she wouldn't object. The decision was Ash's, and Ash didn't have ulterior motives. He probably couldn't spell "ulterior motives." And beyond the romantic tension, having another girl in the group meant conversations she couldn't have with Ash. Sister topics. Girl talk. Things that existed in a different register from couple dynamics.
Serena's face brightened, pink spreading across her cheeks. Her hands tightened on her backpack straps. "Is... is that really okay? I won't be in the way?"
"Of course not! More friends means more fun!"
Serena didn't answer Ash. She turned to Misty.
The gesture was small and said everything. She wasn't going to force herself into a team where half the membership didn't want her. If Misty said no, Serena would walk away. Ash might be oblivious to the dynamics at play, but Serena wasn't.
The flicker of consideration in Misty's chest warmed into something close to appreciation. A girl who read the room and respected boundaries? Who checked with the girlfriend before accepting the boyfriend's invitation?
Whatever threat Serena might pose in theory, in practice, she had manners.
"Don't look at me." Misty shrugged, holding Togepi against her chest. "If Ash says yes, it's fine. He's the one in charge of the cooking."
Permission granted. Disguised as indifference.
Serena beamed.
"Then it's settled!" Ash threw his arm in the air. "The new team is formed!"
Every head in the Pokémon Centre turned toward them. Misty and Serena looked at each other, shared a helpless smile, and sighed in unison.
The journey ahead was going to be interesting.