Alola, amour!

Chapter 2 ~ The boring lesson

Ash sat in his place at Pokemon School and leaned his head on his hands. In general, Professor Kukui's lessons were very interesting and even a person like Ash, sometimes even a lack of concentration, could listen to them. But now the subject was so boring that Ash was just waiting for the lesson to end.

Ash turned his gaze slightly down and noticed that Pikachu had made his cap a nest for himself and now slept. Ash did not wonder at all, the lesson was so boring that he began to fall asleep himself. His other Pokémon, the Rowlet owl, was asleep in his backpack, and it was so common that Ash couldn't even think about it anymore.

Even his Alola Pokedex, the floating and talking Rotomdex, had put himself into hibernation. Now he had placed himself safely on the nearest shelf and timed himself to wake up when the lesson was over.

Ash gazed around the classroom. Next to him sat Mallow, a green-haired girl who now leaned her face in one hand and played with a floral hairband on the other. She loved cooking and her father owned a small restaurant where Mallow used to help. Her Pokémon, a small Bounsweet, resembling a pink berry, had fallen asleep next to the girl's desk.

Sitting next to Mallow on the left was Lana, a blue-haired girl who loved the sea and everything related to water, especially water Pokemon. Now she was crafting something with her hands and Ash realized that she was building a new kind of lure for her rod. This one she was doing was reminiscent of Kyogre, the legendary water Pokémon. Ash grinned. He knew that Lana's dream was to face Kyogre one day.

Behind the Lana was Lillie, a blonde-haired girl who enjoyed reading and often knew the answer to every question Professor Kukui had. She was usually the most active and conscientious student in the class, so it was no surprise that she was still sitting straight in her chair and listened to Kukui's lecture closely. Next to her was a small Alolan Vulpix, called Snowy, who listened as closely as her trainer.

Next to the Lillie was Sophocles, a short and steady boy who loved inventions and everything related to technology. Even now, he had brought up his portable hologram computer (A/N: you know, which he always uses in the Sun & Moon series), and already coded something new for it. Ash grinned again. Sophocles reminded him a lot of one of his friends who had traveled with him in the Kalos region.

Clemont, that was his friend's name, had also loved inventions and science, but unlike Sophocles' inventions, Clemont's inventions had tended to explode almost immediately after launch. Ash grinned again and wondered what Clemont could do right now.

He probably either invented something or was in charge of the Lumiose City gym leader role. Ash shook his head slightly. Thinking of his former travel companions made him feel a little more apathetic and right now he didn't want to feel any less apathetic than he was. He turned his head to his last classmate.

He was Kiawe. He had reddish-brown hair and was the oldest in their class. Kiawe loved battling and competitions almost as much as Ash and they often had competitions from anywhere. Kiawe's family owned a farm on Akala Island, one of Alola's four main islands, and Kiawe often transported milk deliveries with his Charizard.

For Kiawe, the fire-type Pokémon was especially important, and other important things for him were his little sister Mimo and the Wela volcano on Akala Island. Sometimes Kiawe resembles a volcano itself, Ash thought with a grin.

Kiawe met Ash's gaze and smiled at him and Ash grinned back and then turned right in place.

Kiawe's thinking brought to his another previous travel companion, Bonnie. She was Clemont's little sister and a very lively and inspiring person. She was still too young to be officially a Pokemon trainer, but her big brother had caught her a small Pokémon called Dedenne, who had become one of Bonnie's best friends.

On the way across the Kalos region, Bonnie had also befriended a green and strangely-looking Pokémon and called him Squishy. In the end, Squishy had finally become amazing legendary Pokemon Zygarde. Ash grinned again, thinking of everything he had experienced while traveling in the Kalos region.

Ash looked at the clock on the classroom wall. It looked like there were still fifteen minutes left. Ash sighed. The lesson was very slow.

His thoughts returned to Kalos again. In addition to Bonnie and Clemont, another person had accompanied him. Serena. Ash frowned. Serena's thinking gave him a strange feeling. It felt warm in his chest and felt like a flock of Butterfree fluttering in his stomach.

Just the thought of Serena's honey-blonde hair or bright blue eyes or her cute smile created this feeling in him, and he didn't know why. Wait, did he just think Serena's smile was cute? When had he really started to think that someone's smile was cute?

Ash frowned and couldn't help thinking that he was now beginning to think more and more about Serena. What could she do at the moment? She probably competed in some Hoenn Pokemon contests. After all, she had left to Hoenn. To become a better Pokemon performer.

One thought led to another, and soon Ash realized he was thinking of the day Serena had left to Hoenn. Especially the picture of her at the airport escalator running towards him and... kissing him... the mere thought made Ash blush. He still had no idea what really had happened, but still, the memory gave him the same warm feeling as thinking about other things about Serena. Just like when they had gone to buy gifts for their Pokémon in Coumarine City and he had given Serena that blue ribbon and it had become surprisingly important to Serena. Or when...

Ash's thoughts were interrupted when the school bell rang to mark the end of the lesson. Professor Kukui woke up from his lecture and then said to his class, "All right, class. That was the last lesson. Have a great weekend!" he said, and the class rushed out of the Pokémon almost simultaneously.

"Hi Ash, wanna battle? Turtonator should love it a lot," said Kiawe and Ash shook his head and banished his recent, puzzling thoughts. It didn't take long for him to think of the answer.

"You bet!" he exclaimed, and Pikachu, who had now awakened, cheerfully exclaimed that he liked the idea as well, and the trio left the class with Rotomdex on their heels, and exclaimed, "Hey, wait for me!"