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~Ash's POV~

There he was, standing in front of all of us. With the things he had done, there was now way anyone could forget that face. I never thought I'd see him again. I believed he was long gone, but I was wrong.

Everyone was speechless. Even Misty was loss for words. Knowing her, she would've gone berserk by now. It was surprising to see her like this.

I turned behind me to look at Serena. The expression on her face hit me. It was the same expression she had back when she lost Calem. I never in my life wanted to see that look on her face again. It hurt me to see her like that. But here she was again, with that same scared, saddened look.

I pushed myself in front of him. "What do you think you're doing here, huh?! Here to play around with Serena's feelings again?! Well you better stay away from her, or you'll regret it!"

"Ash, stop." Serena took my arm. "It's okay..."

"How is it okay?! The guy who hurt you is here, god dammit! It can't be okay!"

Paul placed his hand on my shoulder as Serena let go of my arm. "Dude, cut it out. Yelling is not going to get you anywhere."

"But-"

"I said stop." Paul pulled me away from Calem.

What the hell was wrong with standing up for Serena?! I was only trying to protect her from that bastard, and I'm the one who ends up in trouble?!

Miette stepped in front of me and placed her hands on her hips. "What are you doing here?"

"No, the question is what are you guys doing here?!" He replied as he eyed each one of us.

"What?" Dawn said in confusion. "You mean to tell me you came here not knowing why?"

Calem faced Brock. "You didn't tell me they'd be here! If I knew, I wouldn't have come!"

"I didn't know you guys knew each other." Brock replied.

Calem crossed his arms. "Great, just great."

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, SHOWING YOUR FACE HERE, HUH?!" Misty yelled.

There we go, that's the Misty I knew. It got me concerned earlier because she didn't go mad at all when she saw Calem. Took her quite awhile to take action.

Calem scoffed. "That's no way to greet someone."

"Why you little-" Misty attempted to hit him, before getting stopped by Paul.

"Arceus." Paul sighed. "First Ash, now you. I hope you realize you aren't getting anywhere with all this fighting."

I didn't know how much of a peacemaker Paul was. I always thought of him as the guy who just didn't care about anything. This was a new side to him.

Calem looked over at Serena, and I was not happy about it. I purposely stepped in front of her, blocking his view. It was like my body moved on its own, I wasn't planning on doing this in the first place. But still, after what he had done, he doesn't deserve to even look at her.

Calem rolled his eyes at what I was doing, and mouthed something to me in return. I didn't quite understand what he said, but I'm guessing it wasn't anything good.

"You see, Calem flew here to help me out." Brock explained. "It's for an assignment of his, where he is required to have at least 40 hours of community service in order to graduate from his school."

"It's not like I want to be here," Calem shrugged. "But I have to. I don't want to fail my class or anything."

Out of all places, he had to pick the job of volunteering here in Kanto. He could've picked something as simple as delivering mail, but nope. He had to come here.

I felt the entire trip to Kanto has now been ruined.

Misty didn't look too happy with the decision Calem made of coming here. Paul was keeping her steady by holding her arm, just incase she lost it again.

"Well then," Brock looked at his watch. "I think it's about time we get heading to Pallet Town, don't you think? Let's go." He walked away, leading everyone to his van.

"Well? You heard him. Get going." Calem glanced at us, before following Brock.

We waited in our spots and watched Calem go. Dawn immediately went over to Serena. "Serena! Are you okay?"

Serena nodded. "Y-yeah... I'm fine."

A lie. I knew she wasn't okay.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah." She replied. "I'm okay, promise."

Another lie.

"What about you, Miette? How are you feeling?" May asked.

"I just can't believe he's here." She sighed.

"Yeah..." Iris said. "Who would've thought he'd be back."

Gary, having enough with the way we were all acting, tried to enlighten to mood by changing the subject. "Hey guys, c'mon. Don't wanna keep Brock waiting. Let's just enjoy the rest of the day, and come back to this later, kay?"

"Gary's right. No need to get all upset just cause one guy here's a jerk." Drew said. "It's all about Pallet Town for now. Let's go."

The gang agreed, and followed Drew and Gary. I looked over at Serena once again, still concerned about her. I wanted to talk to her, and make her feel better. But I knew it wasn't the right time. It would be best to just leave her alone for now.

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"We're here!" Gary jumped in his seat as Brock stopped the van. He hopped off, eager to be back in his home town.

I took a deep breath and let in the smell of Pallet Town. I've missed this, and I couldn't be more happy to be back.

"Woah... So this it Pallet." Barry admired his surroundings.

I decided to let go what happened earlier, and just focus on this for now. There was no need to have that bother me throughout the entire time here. I'll just deal with it later.

"Look at that! It's so nice and full of nature around here! This place isn't like Lumiose at all!" Dawn said. "Serena, what do you think?"

The smile on Dawn's face soon faded once she saw the look on her best friend's face. Serena had her head down, the scene of seeing Calem repeating over and over.

"Serena... I know it's hard for you to see him again. But we can't let this go to waste," Dawn said, motioning to Pallet Town. "Just forget about what happened for now, and enjoy yourself while we're here."

"Yeah... Okay." Serena forcefully planted a small smile on her face.

The two joined the rest of the gang as I watched them go in my spot. I stood there clenching my hands. If only Calem hadn't  come, Serena wouldn't be feeling like this.

"Yo, Ashy!" Gary waved. "Let's go visit the professor!"

I looked over at Calem, to see him organizing a few things. At least he wouldn't be with us most of the time, since he had to work with Brock.

"Yeah, coming."

I caught up to the rest of the group, who were standing in front of the lab waiting for me. They stepped inside, with me following close behind.

I remember stepping through these doors when I turned 10. I was so excited to get my very first Pokemon on that day. I walked through the lab, memories slowly coming back to me.

"Good to see this place again, eh Pikachu?" I pet his head.

"Pika!"

As we got deeper into the lab, I caught a glimpse of a man in a white lab coat. A smile smeared across my face.

"Gramps!" Gary ran over.

Professor Oak stopped what he was doing and turned around at the sound of his grandson. "Ah, Gary! Long time no see!"

"Yeah! Good to see ya again, gramps!"

"I see you brought a few friends." Professor said, looking at everyone one by one, until he saw me. "Oh, Ash! You're here too!"

I walked in front of the group towards him. "Hey Professor! Nice to see you!"

"What brings you here to Kanto?"

"We won a contest with our friends, so we got to travel here!" Gary replied.

"Well it's nice to see all of you." Oak said. "So, how about a little tour of the lab? I would love to show you all my latest researches."

We spent the next 30 minutes learning about the new things Professor has found out about. He surprisingly talked about mega evolution, which I thought was only known around the Kalos and Hoenn regions.

After that, we said our goodbyes and left the lab. We stayed in Pallet Town for a little while longer, visiting Gary's house. We weren't able to go into my old house, because new residents moved in since my mom and I left to Kalos.

Our time in Pallet Town unfortunately ended soon. We had a good time, and the visit was definitely worth it.

"Alright. Get some rest, you have another big day coming tomorrow." Brock said. "Have a good night."

Calem kept his mouth shut, and followed Brock to their RV. He better stay quiet, I didn't want to hear from him ever again.

We said our good nights and separated into our cottages. Dawn's group looked really tired, so looks like they won't be visiting our cottage for the evening.

"Alrighty then," Clemont said as we inside. "How about you guys get settled in the dining room as I prepare dinner?"

"Yes, food!" Gary jumped.

We did as he said and took our seats. Serena on the other hand went up to her room, telling us she wasn't hungry. We didn't stop her or anything, we just let her go. But we knew she wasn't feeling herself at all.

"What's wrong with Serena?" Bonnie asked in concern. "Does it have something to do with that Calem guy? Will she be okay?"

Miette placed her hand on Bonnie's arm. "Don't worry, Serena just needs some time to herself."

"But still... I'm worried about her." Misty said. "This is like what happened the last time on the day she broke up with Calem. And here I thought she was over him already."

"You got that right." I replied.

Clemont returned with our dinner in hand. As he was about to place Serena's dinner on the table, he noticed she wasn't there. "Huh? Where's Serena?"

"She didn't feel like eating." Miette sighed. "I mean, I know seeing Calem again hurts. I know this myself since I felt it when I saw him earlier. But I don't get why she has to go off and be on her own. She can always come talk to us if she needs to."

Clemont sat down in his seat. "Ash, maybe you should go check on her?"

"W-why me?"

"Well, you'd be the best one here to go up there and comfort her. Go for it." He smiled.

"Maybe give her a little kiss to make her feel better while you're at it." Gary smirked.

Misty thumped Gary on the head. "Why don't you shut up for once? This is no time to be joking around."

Gary rubbed his head. "Oww...."

"Okay," I got up from my seat. "I'll be back in a few."

I slowly walked up the stairs towards our room. I placed my hand on the doorknob, and stopped before I could open it. Right, almost forgot to knock. I knocked on the door before opening it.

"Serena?" I pushed the door open.

She was sitting on the bed. I could hear her silent sniffles from where I was standing.

I closed the door behind me. "Are you okay?"

Tears started streaming down her face at the sight of me. Knowing she had to let it all out, she got up and ran towards me. She gently threw herself at me and cried into my chest.

"H-hey," I looked down at her, feeling my face heat up. "W-what's wrong?"

I could feel her tears seeping through my shirt and onto my skin.

"I-I don't know how to feel anymore, Ash.." She sniffled. "I-I thought I was o-over him," She cried even harder. "But I'm not."