Love in the Time of Tenacity

Chapter 15: A Link

The Hope Leilani continues! Not much else to say other than that. Please enjoy Chapter 15!

Chapter 15

A Link

"Yeah! Yeah! Go Serena!" Bonnie's voice cheered out amidst the rest of the screaming crowd. Clemont reached out from his seat and yanked his sister back down, barely able to even hold on to Chespin, who looked thoroughly excited at the events taking place on the stage below. Then again, Ash reasoned, Chespin had always seemed to enjoy watching performances, no matter what. He just laughed about it, scratching at Pikachu's ears. Next to him, Lillie was on the veritable edge of her seat, gripping tightly to Komala and the immobile Nebby both. He wasn't sure if she was concerned for Serena's prospects, or simply watching with eager anticipation. Either way, he chose to say something by leaning over to her.

"Don't worry about Serena," he reminded her, placing a hand on her shoulder with comfort. "She's the best there is and will definitely succeed. We've all gotten this far, haven't we?"

"You're right" Lillie indicated, clenching her fists and bringing them to her chest. It didn't make her move back on the seat, though, and Ash wasn't going to bother in trying to stop that. Instead, he just shrugged a little. That's when he felt a tap on his shoulder and turned back to see Dawn sitting there with a sheepish grin. In fact, a lot of their friends were all seated there, having met up prior to Serena leaving for the preparation rooms. The only ones that seemed to not be there were Seamus and the others (who could only find seats on the other side of the stadium during the Hope Leilani, with a promise to be closer come League time) and Gladion, who was likely still training for the League.

"So...these Ceremonies are like Showcases and Contests, right?" she asked. In her lap, Piplup was sucking on a large cup and digging into a bucket of popcorn (well, more like arguing about the whole thing with May).

"Something like that," Ash answered her. Dawn appeared to accept that as the easiest answer, shrugging and sitting back in her chair. Ash turned back, looking at all of his friends that were there. Most of them were clearly unaware of the way the whole Leilani Ceremony worked in the first place, but he was glad that they could be here to at least support Serena, instead of being off exploring the village. Even Misty, Iris and Cilan, who appeared remarkably unfamiliar with the processes, when compared to Brock, May and Dawn, were watching with some interest. Granting, Brock was more interested in Aria, who he was seated next to.

Just before he managed to face back to the arena and the stage that was there, Ash caught sight of Sawyer and Miette, the latter watching with her fingers interlocked. Out of all of Serena's old rivals (or maybe still current, he wasn't really sure) he was surprised that Miette had been the one to find time to come and watch, even if that was obvious, given the others hadn't made it to Alola. She was even paying attention the most out of all of them, as if trying to get a measure of Serena for any of their future encounters. It made Ash think of his own rivals, one of them sitting a few chairs away with a plate of malasadas that he was offering to the others.

"First up for the Performance Portion is the lovely Serena! Let's see what kind of combinations she can pull off for us to watch today!" Maika announced to the crowd, her hovering craft reattaching to what looked like a box. Ash briefly flitted his eyes up to said commentator box, recognizing that Kalas hadn't said a word in some time; this was Maika's show. Ash gripped his pants with a look of encouragement.

"Come on, you can do this part, no problem," he breathed through his teeth. Serena stood front and center, Primarina and Sandshrew at her side and ready for their big performances.

"Let's go!" Serena cried, tapping her foot. In her new dress, she looked especially like she was flowing around the stage, and was a beautiful contrast to the blue coloration of the Pokémon she was partnered with. "Primarina, into the air with a spinning Aqua Jet!"