A Journey's Link

Chapter 76 - Forward

"Serena!" A voice called out from across the field, near where her house was. She turned in confusion, knowing it wasn't her mother, but instead, a young man's voice. Her Pokemon all stopped training and turned to the voice, smiling as they saw a blue jumpsuit in the distance. "Clemont!" Serena exclaimed happily, running over to where he was standing outside her house.

As Serena approached Clemont alongside her Pokemon, she asked him, "What are you doing in Vaniville Town?" Clemont greeted her Pokemon and smiled at her. "I'm working on an invention and I needed a specific type of antenna," he explained, holding up a small package. "They're all sold out, except for here in Vaniville Town."

"Yikes," Serena responded. "What kind of invention are you working on?" Clemont hesitated for a moment before shaking his head. "It's... nothing," he responded, his voice trailing off. Serena tilted her head before understanding. "You're trying to find Ash, aren't you?" She asked curiously. Clemont slowly nodded his head and sighed.

"I know he wanted to go on his own, but I can't help but try," he explained guiltily. Serena frowned and shook her head. "Don't blame yourself. I still have hope that one day he'll just reappear right in front of my eyes or something," she said sadly. There was silence between the two before Clemont spoke up.

"Why don't we go to the Pokemon Center so we can contact Goh?" He suggested. "Maybe seeing what he's up to will cheer us up?" He thought it was a long shot, but he was pleasantly surprised when Serena smiled and responded, "That sounds great!"

She turned to her Pokemon and told them, "I want you guys to continue training while I'm gone, okay?" Her Pokemon all responded gleefully, so she went inside her house and told her mom that she was going to go speak to an old friend, to which she happily encouraged her. Grace knew about Serena's admiration of Ash, so she was aware of how devastating it must have been when he left. Fortunately, Serena had never given up Performing, so Grace was grateful anytime she interacted with any of her friends, old or new.

"Ready to go?" Clemont asked as Serena hopped down her stairs up to her porch. "Yep," she responded, putting her bag around her shoulder. "Be good you guys!" She exclaimed to her Pokemon, who was still training. As they left her house and began walking down the pathway that led to the Pokemon Center, they spoke about what they had been doing.

"Besides my inventions, I've been teaching Bonnie more about Pokemon battling," Clemont explained. "I'm glad she's excited to start, but she's not a big fan of learning about how Pokemon battles work." Serena giggles. "That's just how Bonnie is," she said matter-of-factly. "She wants to just do it, not learn about it."

"What about you?" Clemont asked as they approached the Pokemon Center. "Still just performing?" Serena nodded and shrugged her shoulders. "Not much else to do," she stated. "I sure don't want to do Pokemon battles, and the only eventful thing in Vaniville Town is the occasional loose Tauros, so honing my skills for Performances is all I can do."

Clemont slowly nodded and opened the door to the Pokemon Center, entering after Serena. "Welcome to the Pokemon Center!" Nurse Joy at the front exclaimed. "How can I help you?" Serena smiled and asked, "Can we use the video phone?", to which Nurse Joy responded with a smile, "Of course!"

Serena and Clemont walked over to the video module. "Where do we call again?" Serena asked Clemont. "Goh said he helps out at Cerise Laboratories with Ash, right?" Clemont nodded and added quietly, "Not with Ash anymore..." Serena realized the mistake she made and frowned as Clemont searched for the building to make the call to.

"Found it!" he said proudly, clicking on the contact number for Cerise Laboratories. The video call began ringing before it was accepted and projected a live video of a clean, white laboratory room. "Hello? Who is this?" A middle-aged professor with brown hair stared into the camera as he spoke. "Um, we're looking for Goh?" Serena asked awkwardly.