The Spirit of Journeys

Rockets in Jubilife

"Statements"

'Thoughts'

Side Notes

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ash and Serena rattled their brains trying to figure out a way to repair the piece of damage Darkrai created.

"Gahhhhhh," Ash groaned as he incessantly scratched his head.

Serena sighed. "I really wish Darkrai left us with something to fix this."

"Welp, I guess there's nothing we can do about it." Ash casually responded before walking up to the open wall and gazing at the rest of the city outside. "You know, Jubilife's a real nice place to see from up here."

Serena followed shortly after and peered at the midnight view. "It really is. It kinda makes everything feel nicer."

Ash felt a pleasant smile come over his face. Her presence throughout this entire fiasco gave him a newfound sense of brewing comfort.

"Hey Serena?" He spoke up.

"Yes Ash?" She answered, still gazing at the city.

"Thanks?"

"Huh?" She turned her head, puzzled. She hadn't really done much of anything to warrant his gratitude.

"For being here. I know meeting me in Sinnoh wasn't really your original plan, but you being here really helps me with all the pressure from Goh and Tobias, so thanks!"

A red blush ran across her face. Luckily for her, Ash had turned his head back before he could notice. A thought entered her mind, and it was a risky one indeed. Serena slowly began to inch her hand towards Ash's, becoming less and less bashful as they got closer. 'Come on, Serena. It's now or never' She bashfully said to herself. 

Eventually, she got to the point where their hands were only about a centimeter away from contact. Her elevated excitement was cut off when an extendable claw grabbed Pikachu by its body and pulled it into a transparent sphere container. Ash and Serena turned their heads back in bafflement and saw three smug-faced figures in ridiculous white attires.

"Team Rocket!" Ash shouted.

"In the flesh, twerp, and-" James stopped when he noticed Goh on the hospital bed, "Hey, why's the other one snoozing in a hospital bed?"

"He's in a coma," Ash sternly responded. The trio looked at each other in confusion, quickly realizing that Ash and Serena were dealing with a problem that actually mattered.

"Well, whatever the case is. We still want this Pikachu and we're gonna have it," Jessie said.

"You guys are still doing this?" Serena remarked, hinting a bit of condescension at the group.

"Bingo! Our mission will never end so long as we've got this Pikachu to bag and a boss to give it to. And as an added bonus, we caught your grubby little mouths talkin' up to Darkrai." Meowth responded.

"Luckily for us, it left the perfect escape route," James said, pointing at the hole Darkrai created.

"You do realize you'd have to get past us first?" Serena retorted.

"Silly twerps. We have a counterplan, isn't that right James?" said Jessie. James, however, stared blankly.

It took a few seconds of utter silence before any of them could grasp the predicament. "Hold on, Jimmy. You tellin' me we went to scrap with the twerps without a plan?!?" Meowth yelled. James could only smile sheepishly as he waved his hands in defense.