It was dark in Lumiose city. The streets were less crowded than they were a few hours back. After having some food Ash and Gary were slowly walking back towards their room. Shinx and Litleo were following them walking together closely behind. Golbat hadn't returned yet but Ash had managed to catch a few glimpses of him flying above.

Golbats are known to be active only at night. They like to hunt their prey and suck their blood in dark. During the day they tend to stay at dark places. There bodies aren't made to bear the sunlight. Only after evolving into Crobat they become capable of withstanding the day's climate.

Ash was hoping that his Golbat doesn't end up picking up unnecessary fights due to poor choice of his victim. Maybe letting him out in a city wasn't really a good idea.

When they neared their room they heard some sirens. Several police jeeps sped past them in the opposite direction, towards the Lumiose Tower. Judging by the speed they were at this was definitely an emergency. Ash hoped that it wasn't anything serious. He turned to ask Gary, but was then pushed aside by a hurrying duo.

The two men were heading in the same direction as Ash. They were wearing black trench coats and black goggles. Definitely trying to hide their faces. Both of them carrying some heavy suitcases. The two men hurried and turned left.

Talk about appearing suspicious. Ash thought."I think we should follow them."

"I thought you were on holiday." Gary said rolling his eyes. "Whatever, those two might just be up to something."

Ash nodded and swiftly walked in the direction the two men went. After reaching the corner of the street, he peeked around the wall to see them entering a garage. The street was a deserted one. Even though Ash didn't know who these guys were, he was sure they were up to no good.

Ash and Gary followed the duo to the garage. It looked like it was abandoned. Gary slowly opened the door and peeked in through the small gap. He could see half of a black van. One of the men was stuffing the suitcase inside the vehicle. Gary then moved aside to have Ash take a look.

"What do you think we should do?" Gary asked.

"I am not sure. Let's just confront them and see how they react." Ash said.

Gary nodded with a smirk. He knew things would turn exciting with Ash. But he never expected it to be like that this early. It wasn't even a day since he had arrived.

Gary asked Litleo and Shinx to wait outside to cover the exit. Shinx smiled and walked to hide in the shadows nearby. Meanwhile Litleo purred proudly and walked to other shadows. Both of them obviously pleased to be assigned with a job.

Gary went up ahead opened the door. Ash just behind him. They were acting as if they were surprised to see the two men inside. As soon as they opened the door, one of the men near the van pulled out a gun and pointed at Ash and Gary.

"Who the hell are you? What are you doing here?" The man with the gun asked.

"Shouldn't I ask you the same question? What are you doing in my garage?" Gary asked. The two men looked at each other in confusion. Meanwhile Ash used this chance to elbow his backpack. Now he was certain that these people were some kind of criminals.

"And looking at the gun in your hand, you do look like some kind of theives. As a responsible citizen it's my duty to report you.." The two men were alarmed. One of them moved his hand towards his pokeballs. "...to the police."

"Now, Pikachu"

Pikachu bolted up from Ash's bag into the air. His cheeks sparking with electricity. Two thunderbolts shot from his body towards the van. Due to being shocked by Pikachu and being panicked at the same time, the man emptied the whole gun into the roof. Both the men fell like flies.

"Let's check what we they in the suitcases." Ash said.

He opened the van's door and pulled a suitcase out. It was heavier than Ash had expected. He couldn't open the locked suitcase so he asked Pikachu to use iron tail. Pikachu smashed his glowing tail on the lock. The suitcase flung open to reveal a huge number of glowing stones and pokemon fossils.

"We should let the police know straightaway." Ash said looking back. Gary nodded and started dialing on his Pokenav. Ash meanwhile checked the pockets of the smugglers. They had some money, keys and satellite phones. He got their pokeballs so they won't be able to use them in case they woke up.

He moved to check the other suitcase. As he moved near it he found his Greninja's pokeball vibrating. Ash put his palm on the pokeball to calm him. He wondered what would be the contents of the suitcase which made his normally stoic Greninja this agitated.

"The police are on their way. Also for some reason Officer Jenny wants us at Professor Sycamore's lab." Gary said.

"Maybe that's where the police went when we saw them earlier." Ash said.

"Makes sense." Gary shrugged. "Let's wait outside till the police arrive."

Gary walked to the door. Ash followed him grabbing both suitcases and the smuggler's pokeballs. He was finding it difficult to drag the suitcases outside.

"You need any help, right?" Gary asked. Ash rolled his eyes. He was no stranger to Gary's mean taunts "Thought so."

"Pikaa" Pikachu said in pity. In an effort to help Ash he started pushing the suitcase with his small arms.

"Thanks buddy." Ash said.

Gary walked outside the door. As soon as he did, there was a yellow flash outside and a thud sound of someone dropping to the ground. Ash left his suitcase and ran outside. He noticed Gary was getting up. He looked like he had been shocked by Pikachu. His body was covered in soot.

"What happened?" Ash asked.

"Leaving Shinx and Litleo to guard the exit wasn't really a good idea." Gary said dusting off the soot. Ash couldn't hold back his laughter upon after hearing that. Even Pikachu joined in.

Shinx meanwhile walked towards Gary and pawed him. When the brown haired boy looked down he purred an apology towards his trainer. Before he could do that he was tackled by Litleo to the ground. Litleo was angry at his friend for attacking his master. The electric cub looked like he was on the verge of tears. He got up and ran away before Gary could say anything.

"Litleo, that was uncalled for. You know Shinx is still young." Gary scolded.

Litleo looked down. He didn't mean to upset Shinx. He was just scolding him for attacking his trainer. He wasn't expecting his buddy to run away. Is his pack that's how punishments were dished out.

Litleo shook his head at the thought of his pack. He should just forget about them. They left him behind. If it wasn't for his trainer he would have still been wondering alone. He should stop behaving like this was his pack.

"C'mon now. Let's go look for him." Gary said. Litleo looked at Gary with a confused expression. His trainer was trusting him even after he made a mistake. He wasn't going to let him down now. "Can you smell him?"

Litleo nodded his head. He quickly found the scent and ran away looking for it. Gary started running after him but stopped and looked back to explain Ash.

"Go on. I will catch up with you as soon as I handover the situation to the police." Ash said before Gary could. Gary nodded his thanks and went after Litleo.

Ash wasn't surprised to see Shinx shocking Gary. Younger pokemon are often eager to use their attacks and they lack proper judgment. What surprised him was how Shinx ran away after Litleo tackled him. Perhaps there was something about him that Gary hadn't told him yet.

After waiting for few more minutes a police jeep arrived at the scene. He explained the situation to the officer in charge. Officer Jenny couldn't manage to come as she was busy some incident at Professor Sycamore's lab. Ash was supposed to go there but he thought he should look for Gary first.

He handed the suitcases to the officer. His men went inside and handcuffed the unconscious criminals. Pikachu did shock them pretty bad. He didn't like holding back on his thunderbolt for his enemies. The officer thanked him for his efforts as Ash took his leave.

He thought how he could find Gary. He heard a screeching sound from above. He found his Golbat flying above him. He beckoned the bat closer.

"Look around for Gary. He ran away after Shinx and Litleo. If you see any of them just let me know." Ash said. Golbat chattered excitedly upon having assigned to do a job. He flew away before screeching one more time and then disappeared in the dark.

"Pikachu, do you have Shinx's scent?" Ash asked. Pikachu shrugged before running away to find it. After a few minutes he detected it and then ran into it's direction. Ash followed the yellow mouse who was already down the street.

----

The Police had arrived at the Sycamore's lab. They were searching for clues. Serena meanwhile was sitting alone outside. She was tending to her wound on her legs as the medics were busy with professor and his assistants.

Serena didn't mind. She was hoping professor would be alright soon. Her only hope of finding Ash was Gary and only professor would know how to contact him. There was another option of asking help from Paul. But she wasn't sure if he would even bother. Similar to Gary, she had no idea where he was right now.

Serena was frustrated. She was being denied again and again to find out anything about Ash. If only she had been a little early, she could have found out about Gary from professor. If only she hadn't been attacked in the alleyway she would have been in Kanto right now. If only Palermo had let Ash meet her maybe they would have been together. If only she had confessed her love while they were traveling together. If only...

Serena looked at the eeire night sky lit by the silver moon light. A conopy of luminous stars materialized amongst the ofean of darkness. It looked beautiful. Serena hoped that someday Ash would be sitting there beside her while they watch the stars together.

Serena looked back at the lab. Miette was explaining Officer Jenny how they had come across the attack. Bonnie had gone home as it was quite late. She didn't want her father to worry about her. Serena was grateful to Bonnie for finding out the useful piece of information regarding Ash. But she still needed professor to make the information useful.

Serena noticed Miette and Officer Jenny had finished their discussion and were walking towards her. It was the same Officer Jenny that had helped her a few days ago. She smiled at the familiar face.

"Is professor all right?" Serena asked.

"His condition is stable so he will be fine. His assistants too." Jenny said. "But looks like they have been put to sleep by some psychic powers. We can't say anything about when they will be awake."

"Really?" Serena was disappointed. "Isn't there any way we can wake them up?"

"There are ways but there is also a risk of damaging the person's mental state." Jenny replied."It could take anywhere from two days to a whole week for them to regain consciousness."

Serena tried to hide her disappointment. Now she will have to wait until Professor is all right.

"But why was the lab attacked?" Miette asked.

"As you know, professor works on stuff related to mega evolutions. Any criminal organization would love to get their hands on his research." Jenny said. "This isn't the first time they have tried to do so."

"There isn't even any kind of security around the lab." Miette said.

"I have offered to provide guards for the lab in the past. But he refused them." Jenny said.

Serena wasn't even paying attention to the conversation. She remembered the first time the lab was attacked which had resulted in Garchomp going on a rampage. She didn't want to say it was a good thing that happened but because of that she first saw Ash on the TV.

"...but fortunately I believe the perpetrators have been caught. I just received a message. They even have the megastones in their possession they stole from the lab." Jenny said.

"Well that's some rapid action from the police." Miette said.

"Not really. They were nabbed by some normal trainers, it seems." Jenny said. She turned to Serena who had been silent since she learnt about Professor Sycamore's condition.

"How is your injury holding up?" Jenny said. "Looks like you have decided to ignore doctor's advise."

"It isn't anything really. Looks worse than it is." Serena said a little bit flustered. It wasn't that she was doing it on purpose. But she did end up ignoring her wounds.

"I would get a whole week leave for an injury like that." Jenny said. The last thing Serena wanted to do was to argue with an officer. She gave Miette an impatient look.

"You don't have to lie, Serena." Miette said rolling her eyes. She grabbed her hand and took her away."Let's go to my place now and have some rest."

"All right. Take care and please, do have some rest." Jenny said before turning away.

"Thanks for that. I am feeling really tired right now." Serena said to Miette. She was glad Miette had ended the conversation.

"Here." Miette said giving her the keys. "You can go ahead to my place. I need to visit my bakery once to check if everything is in order."

Serena bid her bye and started walking towards Miette's flat. She had stayed there a few times during her holidays. So she knew the road to reach there. It was at a short distance from the lab.

After walking for about fifteen minutes she reached the building where Miette's flat was. The neighborhood was deserted as it was getting late. It was a small but luxurious five floored building. It had it's own small garden. Away from the busy streets of the city, this was certainly an ideal location to live in. It must have cost Miette a good chunk of money.

Serena had gotten inside the gate when she heard some noise. She looked behind to find a small and bluish pokemon scurrying away. It disappeared in the dark street ahead. Even if it appeared strange Serena wasn't going to go after an unknown pokemon. The last time she did that, it didn't go particularly well.

She was going to walk inside the building but again heard a rushing sound from the street. After having a look she recognized the Kalos origin Pokemon, Litleo. Maybe he was after the pokemon which she had seen a little while back, Serena thought.

In the dimly lit street she saw that a person was running closely behind Litleo. What the hell are they doing, Serena thought. A little curious she moved towards the gate. She noticed the familiar mahogany coloured hair.

It's Gary! It has to be him. Serena recognized the clothes. He was wearing the same when she saw him earlier in the morning.

"Gary!" Serena called out. "Gary stop!"

He had already gone far enough to hear Serena. She gritted her teeth in frustration. Having left with no other choice. She opened the gate and started running after him. She continued calling out but to no avail.

Serena wasn't going to let even this opportunity to pass by. Gary was there right ahead. She only has to make him stop and ask him about Ash. It did sound pretty easy until she realized that Gary was running too fast to catch up with.

She did have good stamina but wasn't much athletic. So she just couldn't catch up with Gary. Her wounds were starting to get strained again and blood was trickling down. With every step she took there was jarring pain in her legs. God damnit

After a few minutes she was panting. She could barely keep up the distance between them. He was slipping away. She grew alarmed as Gary was beginning to disappear from her visibility. She increased her speed.

Serena was pushing herself beyond her limits and it was starting to take toll on her. It was increasingly painful to take every step. Her pace started to decrease. When not able to take a single step forward, she stopped. Gary vanished in the darkness ahead shortly afterwards.

She was bent forward with hands on her knees, panting heavily. She could barely stand up and was feeling nauseous. She looked around for a place to sit. But then her vision started to grow blurry. She felt like she was going to pass out. Her eyes closed and she began to fall down. But she didn't hit the ground. She was caught by two pairs of hands.

Serena felt two warm pair of hands catch her from behind. She opened her eyes a little bit. Her vision was still a little blurred. All she could see was a blue jacket. She wanted to see who was the person in front of her before she passed out, which was going to happen any moment now.

She turned her head a little bit to see the face of the person. He had a pretty obnoxious smile on his obnoxious face. But then she realized that it wasn't his face. It was just a bandanna. She strained her eyes for one last time to have a good look at his face.

She could see his eyes. There were brown. Hazel brown. Almost like...Ash. Serena's heart soared. She knew those eyes. She would never ever mistake them for someone else's. It has to be him. She started to say something but could only mumble. She was still panting heavily.

She tried to speak again but was stopped by a finger on her lips. She felt the warmth of his finger.

"Shhh....It's okay, Serena."

Serena closed her eyes. There was only one person she knew had that voice. Tears started flowing down her eyes. But these weren't the tears of sorrow or grief. They were the tears of reunion and happiness. He was finally here. Nothing else mattered now.

Serena sank into his embrace. She slid her arms below his and wrapped them around his waist. She placed her head on his chest and hugged him. With the warmth he was exuding in the chilling Kalos night. This was way more comfortable for Serena than any bed right now. She felt his arms wrapping around her as she fell asleep in his arms.

----

"Souls tend to go back to them who feels like home."

----

AN: So it happened. Did it come as a surprise? This is a much shorter chapter. But this felt like a good place to end it.

So did you like the reunion? I didn't want to rush things. Stay tuned to find out what happened next.