(Serena POV)

"Bonnie........ I............. I like Ash"

I said it, I really said it. I am shocked I was able to say it. Even though it was not in front of Ash I somehow got the guts to tell someone my feeling towards him.

I waited for a response from Bonnie....... still waiting.........And............still waiting.......man why is Bonnie not reacting at all. I just told her who my childhood crush was and she is just standing there just......

"I KNEW IT, I JUST KNEW IT" she yelled coming up to me giving me a big hug. At first she was just standing there processing what I just said after about like 30 seconds or so she is just jumping for joy for me. Wait ....did she just said she knew it? How long did she know? Was I that obvious?

"Tell me everything" she squealed. "How did you two meet? Did you always have a crush on him? Do you like his looks or personality? Does Fennekin like Pikachu? Do you........"

"Woe.... hold on Bonnie" I said trying to calm her down. "You knew I liked Ash?"

"Yell ya....." she said. "You made it really obvious with the complements, the blushing, and you constantly staring at him. So I just thought you had a crush on him, AND BOY WAS I RIGHT" she yelled that last part.

"Oh I see......" I said a little red from embarrassment. Man I really need to control myself around Ash. "So......... how long did you know?"

"I figured it out the first day we made it to Santalune city" she said. She then crossed her arms and looked up at me with a blank expression. "And to think"

"What?"

"And to think I asked you to take care of my brother when you like someone else" she said.

"Oh...." I said sweat dropping. I remember that, my first day when I came to Lumiose city that is when I met Clemont and Bonnie. When Bonnie proposed to me for Clemont that was really.....strange.

"Don't worry about it Serena I'm sure there is another girl for by brother. I just need to find her" she said. "By the way does your Fennekin......"

"Yes" I said know what the question it. "She does like Pikachu, but you can't tell anyone that either."

"Ok ok I won't tell" she said. "But you should tell Ash how you feel, he might feel the same way"

"I don't know......" I trailed off. "I mean I want to tell him but..... just not yet. I'm not ready to tell him just yet, I need some more time."

"I see, don't worry your secret is save with me" Bonnie said. "And if you need to talk to someone about your little...... crush. You can always talk to me."

"Thanks Bonnie that would be really nice" I said look at the time. It is almost 11. "Well we should get some sleep good night"

"Good night" she said as we both went to sleep. After about 13 minutes she was fast asleep while I was still awake thinking about some things.

"Soon I need to get started training to be a Pokémon preforming, I hope that will impress Ash"

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (Normal POV)

It was the next day. After leaving Lumiose city 4 hour ago on their way to Cyllage City. The group decided to take a break and have lunch since it is about 1 o'clock. Clemont was out cooking noodles for the group and some bread to go with it. He may be an inventor but he is also a great cook. While he was getting lunch prepared Bonnie was brushing her Dedenne while Ash and Serena was doing some training with their Pokémon. Ash was training his Froakie since he was planning on using it for the Cyllage gym while Serena was going over a routine for her and her Fennekin to do.

"Ok Fennekin first you do a front flip while using Ember in front of me when I toss you foward. Then you jump on my arm so I can twirl you around. While I am doing that you will use Ember in such a way that it will sparkle, you got that? Serena asked her Fennekin.

"Fen kin kin" she said nodding.

"Ok here we go". Both her and her Fennekin started to do the routine. Fennekin jumped into Serena's arms as he was about to do a front flip. She was toss forwards as she did a front flip, however when she tried using ember the back blast made her lose balance and she landed on her butt. Serena then went over to her to comfort her.

"It ok Fennekin, it was our first time. Let's just try again."

"Fen" Fennekin nodded and they went through it again. The first 3 times they tried it did not work, but the fourth time Fennekin finally was able to control her ember so it looked like a dazzling flare.

After that she jumped into Serena's arms as she was being twirled around while using ember at the same time. It started off well but that soon changed.As Fennekin was using ember the pieces of fire accidently hit Pikachu on the butt while he was taking a nap. That woke him up alright because now his butt was on fire.

"Oh no Pikachu" Serena yelled as she and Fennekin ran over to him. Pikachu was now running around in circles trying to put out the fire but nothing worked, that is when Ash stepped in.

"Froakie put it out with Water Pules." With that Froakie put out the fire with its water attack and Pikachu lying on its stomach, not on its butt because it would hurt, in a sigh of relief.

"I am so sorry Pikachu" Serena said kneeling down to him.

"Fen....." Fennekin said sheepishly. She was too embarrassed to look at Pikachu. She just shot the Pokémon she liked with ember and now was on his stomach in pain from the attack.

"I'm so sorry Ash that that happened" Serena said.

"Don't worry about it" Ash said. "Just be a little more careful next time. I'm sure you will perfect the move you were trying to do." Not a moment later Clemont just finished making lunch.

"Ok guys Lunch is ready come and get it" He said. And with that the rest of the group gathered at the table getting ready to have lunch.

 Unknown to them there is a little black and while bear like Pokémon watching them. He so happened to have seen everything that Serena was doing. He decided to continue to watch the group from a distance and observe what they will do next.

The group was eating their lunch and making small talk. Ash talked about how he is going to use Froakie in his next gym battle since he knows that the gym leader uses rock types. After he discussed strategy with them Ash then turned his head towards Serena.

"So Serena how is your Pokémon preforming training going?" he asked. That made Serena stop eating, she knew that training is not going well. She was a little embarrassed to tell Ash but she did anyways.

"Well......" she started off. "Now as well as I hoped."

 That is when she lowered her head as Fennekin did the same. Part of it was because of shame but most of it was because of embarrassment.

"Serena it's your first day of practice you can expect that everything will be what you like right away" Ash said.

"Ya you just need to learn from your mistakes and go from there" Clemont said.

"I guess...." Serena said with some doubt in her voice. "It just that Fennekin and I are trying so hard and all we done was burn Pikachu's butt when he was asleep." She then looked down at Pikachu who was still eating. "Sorry again Pikachu."

"Pika" the yellow mouse Pokémon said, saying it was alright. Pikachu then noticed Fennekin hardly toughed her food. He then scooched over to her.

"Pika Pika?" he said asking of anything is wrong.

"Fen kin kin" she said saying that she still felt bad for burning Pikachu

"Pika" he said saying it was ok and that he been through a lot worse than that. At that point Pikachu is now trying to cheer up Fennekin by trying to build up her confidence.

"Looks like Pikachu is trying to cheer up Fennekin" Ash said.

"Ya...." Serena said looking at two. "I guess so."

"Hey Serena, instead of just using Fennekin to made itself look great you should try changing up your style" Clemont suggested. That got Serena's attantion."What do you meaby that?" she asked.

"Well..... all you have is Fennekin you may want to try catching another Pokémon" Clemont said. "Or you can use one our pokemon."

"You can barrow Dedenne if you want" Bonnie said as the other mouse Pokémon popped out of her bag nodding in agreement.

"De denn" it said sounding exited.

"Plus you have plenty of time, the session for Pokémon showcases doesn't even start in till another 2 months." Clemont said.

"Thanks Bonnie and Clemont I'll think about it" Serena said.

Still in the bushes the black and white Pokémon is still observing the group and was listening to their conversation. He was intrigued on what they were saying, especially what the girl was saying. A Pokémon performer huh..... The Pokémon was thinking. He saw plenty of those before and always wanted to see what it feels like. Maybe those people where his chance to find out.After lunch the group was now resuming with what they were doing before lunch while Clemont was started inventing a machine that had to do something with pokemon (more on that later).

Serena resumed training with Fennekin on some more routines the 2 of them can do.

"Ok let's try this one" Serena said to Fennekin. Fennekin started to run forward and jump into the air and try to land on her front paws, but ended up face planting into the ground.

"Fen....." she said a little disappointed.

"Remember what we said at lunch, let's just try again" Serena said. Fennekin got back up and started to do the same routine again but ended up falling on its butt this time. After 4 more tries Fennekin was still falling either and landing on her face, butt, or back.

The pokemon in the bushes was still watching Serena and her Fennekin trying to perform the routine. He knew what they were doing wrong, all Fennekin had to do was not jump to high into the air and try to find her center of balance while in the air. The pokemon saw a stunt like that plenty of times and knew that was the right way to do it. The Pokémon just waited for her to realize that and she should be good.

"Ok again" Serena said. And like that Fennekin was doing the same routine and ended up landing on her butt.

"Is she for real? Again?" The Pokémon thought. After all that practice she still has not figured it out. This was too painful for him to watch he had to do something. So after a minute of debating with itself revealing himself or not he decided to some out help Fennekin.

"Ok one more ti........" Serena started.

"Paaaaaaaaaaannnnnnn" the Pokémon yelled running out of the bushes.

"Huh?" Serena thought. All of a sudden a little black and white Pokémon came running out of bushes and now is saying something to Fennekin, What is that all about?

"Fen?"

"Pan pancham cham cham" it said.

"What's going on?" Ash said as he came over after seeing what just happened.

"Fennekin fin?"

"Cham pancham"

"What's he saying?" Bonnie asked.

"Fen" she said nodding.

"Uh Fennekin was that about?" Serena asked. Just then Fennekin started to run again and jumped again.

"Fennekin what are you doing?" When what looks like Fennekin was about to fall in its face, she quickly shifted her body forward a bit and actually landed on her front two paws.

"FENN!!!" she said with glee.

"Fennekin you did it" Serena said happily. Just then the black and white pokemon when up to Fennekin and patted her on the back.

"Pancham cham" it said congratulating her.

"What is that Pokémon?" Ash getting out his Pokédex.

 Pancham, the Playful Pokémon. Though it tries to look tough, Pancham has trouble being taken seriously by opponents.

"Why did Pancham help us" Serena said.

"Pan Pancham cham cham pan pancham" it said.

"OW.... I wish I knew what he was saying" Bonnie said.

That is when Clemont gave a slight grinn."HM HM HM" he chuckled while adjusting his glasses. "Now would be a perfect time to test out my latest invention, THE FUTURE IS NOW THANKS TO SCIANCE."

 He then got out what looks like a big metal box with a screen on it, some buttons, some lights, and a microphone attached to it.

 "Clamontic Gear on, introducing the Pokémon Translator 2000."

"Pokemon?" Ash said.

"Translator?" Serena said.

"2000?" Bonnie said.

"Yes you see I predicted that we would come across something like this so I invented a machine that would translate what any Pokémon would say into English. First you set the machine to which type of Pokémon it is translating, then the Pokémon say something into this microphone and finally a rough translation will be displayed on this screen?"

"Really?" Serena said.

"Wow science is so amazing" Ash said with stars in his eyes.

"Let's give it a go" Bonnie said taking the microphone.

"Could you say that again Pancham."Bonnie held the microphone down towards Pancham while he just stared at it. He decided there was no harm in saying it again so after about like 20 seconds he said what he said before.The rest of the group looked at the screen and waited to see what showed up.

"Ok let us see what is says" Clemont said as he read out what it said on the screen.

"It said......watching from distance.........doing it wrong.......had to help......"

"He said that?" Ash said.

 "Remember it is a rough translation" Clemont said.

"It's not the exact words but we get that he meant."

"Hey Pancham how did you know to help Fennekin?" Serena asked.

Again the Pancham spoke into the microphone as Clemont read the translation.

"Seen it done before.......... That is how....... To do it" Clemont read.

"You saw a Pokémon performance before?" Bonnie asked. And Clemont read.

"Was amazing.... Always wanted....... It is like" Clemont read.

"Really? Do you know how to preform?" Serena asked. Pancham just put down the microphone and walked over to an open space.

"What's he doing?" Bonnie asked. Just then the Pancham started to do all kinds of tricks. He did some cartwheels, summersaults, some dance moves, and he even did the trick that he taught Fennekin to do.

"Wow that was amazing?" Clemont said.

"I guess that answer your question" Ash said.

"Ya.... I guess that did" Serena said. Just then Fennekin ran over to Pancham and started talking to him.

"Fenn kin kin"

"Pan cham cham"

"Fen fennekin"

"Pan?"

"What are they saying" Bonnie asked.

"Hold on let me adjust the setting on the machine so it can translate both of them" Clemont said as he started to push some buttons and turn some switches. For some reason it is not working. "Huh?... why isn't it working?"

"Uh.... Clemont" Ash said seeing the machine is starting to smoke. "Is that supposed to happen?"

"Uh..... No" he said as he started to mess with it even more. Now the machine is started to spark some.

"Clemont........" Serena said getting a little worried.

"Oh on..." he said. Now it's starting to shake up and down.

"Clemont it's getting worse" Bonnie said.

"I got this, just let me........"

*BOOOOOOOOOOOM*

and like that the machine exploded creating a big cloud off soot. After it cleared Fennekin and Pancham looked at the group as they were dazed and covered in soot.

"Well that didn't work" Bonnie said.

"Now how are going to know what they are saying?" Serena asked. That is when Ash stepped in.

"Let me try" he said as he walked over to Fennekin and Pancham.

"Ash what are you doing?" Serena asked. Ash didn't answer; he just went over to them with Pikachu on his shoulders and sat down next to them.

"Hey guys whatcha talking about?" he asked. Pikachu jumped of his shoulders and started talking with the two Pokémon. The Pokémon started talking to Ash in there Pokémon language while Ash just sat there listening.

"Uh huh" he said.

Clemont, Bonnie, and Serena just stood there watching Ash talking to the Pokémon.

"Can Ash really talk to Pokémon?" Bonnie asked.

"It is possible, but very unlikely" Clemont said.

Serena was just standing there staring at Ash.

 "Can he really talk to Pokémon" she thought. It seems to her that Ash understands every Fennekin and Pancham is saying to him.After about 5 minutes Ash stood up and walked back over to the group.

"Ok so.... It seems like Pancham saw Pokémon performances before and been practicing to be in one ever since." He said. The group just stood there shocked that Ash understood exactly what the pokemon just said. Did he just understand what they said they thought?

"Uh.... Guys?" Ash said zapping then back to reality.

"Y-you... you can talk to Pokemon?" Clemont said shocked.

"Well.... Not exactly. I don't know what they said but I understand what they mean" Ash said.

"Really? How?" Bonnie said.

"Well I been around Pokémon for a long time and well....... I sort of learned what they mean when they say something."

"Wow that's amazing" Serena said. Not only Ash is a kind and caring person he can also talk to Pokémon as well. Wow..... she is admiring him more and more every day.

"Oh... and there is one more thing" Ash said.

"What is it?" Serena asked.

"I'll let you figure that out" he said as he stepped aside as Pancham walked up to her.

"Uh... ok" Serena said as she kneeled down to eye level to equal Pancham's.

"What is it Pancham?"

"Pan Cham cham" it said. Although Serena didn't know what he said she had a good idea on what he meant.

"You.... You want to be a performer?" she asked.

"Pancham" he said nodding.

"Really......" Serena said. That just gave her an idea.

"Hey Pancham how would you like to come with me and preform with me?" That shocked everyone in to group including Pancham. Pancham was not expecting her to ask if he wanted to come with her, but then again he always wanted to be in a performance. So after a minute of him just staring at her he said something.

"PANCHAM" He said happily. But then he got into a battle stance.

"Uh... Pancham what are you doing?" Serena asked.

"I think Pancham wants to battle you" Ash said. Woe.... she was not expecting that, but then again that is the way to catch a pokemon so she agreed.

"Very well Pancham I'll battle you. Ready Fennekin?" Serena said.

"Fen" the fox Pokémon said nodding. Fennekin did want another chance to battle again. Ever since that incident in Prism Tower she wanted to prove herself to Serena (and Pikachu) on how well she can really battle.

"Ok let's do this" Serena said as the group went over to a clear space for them to battle. After they found a spot the battle was on.

"Ok Fennekin use Ember" Serena said. Fennekin shot little jets of fire from her mouth as it went towards Pancham. But Pancham quickly dodged it as he then went into an Arm Thrust at Fennekin.

"Dodge it." Fennekin Dodged the Arm Thrust as she positioned herself for another attack.

"Use Scratch" Fennekin rushed at Pancham as she was about to slash Pancham with her paws. However Pancham just unleashed a Dark Pulse at Fennekin hurling her back several yards as she landed on her side.

"Fennekin!!!" Serena yelled.

"Pika pi" Pikachu yelled in worry. Pancham was about to use another Arm Thrust at Fennekin.

"Fennekin you have to get up" she yelled. Fennekin was still on the ground as Pancham came closer and closer. Fennekin was about to get hit when she realized that she can't give up now after just one attack she needs to prove to herself that she can still battle, Plus Pikachu was watching.

Before Pancham made contact Fennekin jumped out of the way just in time as she got ready for another attack.

"Great now use Ember." Fennekin was so close that Pancham was unable to dodge the attack. Pancham yelled in pain as he was hit with small bits of fire and landed on its back unable to get up.

"Now's my chance go Pokeball" Serena said as she threw the pokeball at Pancham. It made contact as Pancham went into the pokeball as it started to shake, after about 20 seconds the ball dinged to show that Pancham was caught.

"Alright I just caught Pancham the very first Pokémon I caught" Serena yelled with glee as she went over and picked up the pokeball.

"Great job Serena, you're on your way to becoming a Pokémon performer" Ash said.

"Thanks I can't wait to start training with my new Pokémon" Serena said.

"Well we are only a couple of hours away from Cyllage City I think we can still make it their today if we leave now." Clemont said.

"Alright let's go" Serena said. The 4 started walking down the path towards Cyllage City with much on their minds. Cyllage City..... the place for Ashes next Gym badge. He could hardly wait.

As they were only 10 minutes away from the city Ash started a conversation with Serena while Clemont and Bonnie were ahead of them.

"So Serena any idea what routine you can do with Pancham?"

"Not yet, but I'll think of something" Serena said.

"Well whatever you come up with I'm sure it will be great" he said. That made Serena blush a bit knowing Ash support her all the way. She is so lucky to have him with her, now that she has 2 Pokémon and the support of all of her friends there is no stopping her from being the best she can be.

The group finally see's Cyllage City from the distance as they were excited to see the city.

"Badge number 2 here I come" Ash said as he was full sprint to the city. Serena and Bonnie soon followed leaving Clemont behind because he is not the best runner.

"Come on guys..... *sigh* not again" he said.