025: Ser Lena's Arrival!!
At nine o'clock in the morning, the sun had already climbed the horizon, blazing in vivid orange hues and casting a golden ring across the sky.
Several wild Dodrio or perhaps they were from local households leapt onto Red's rooftop, one of the taller buildings in Pallet Town.
Each of the Dodrio's three heads, known to reflect distinct emotions Anger, Sorrow, and Joy faced the sunrise and let out sharp, high-pitched cries over the quiet town.
"Gakaah... ah... ah ah…"
Though unpleasant to the ear, Dodrio's cries were infamous for waking even the heaviest sleepers.
At this time, along Pallet Town's main road, inside a modest two-story rural home with whitewashed walls and a red roof, the scene was less serene.
Earlier that morning, Ash had awoken briefly when his Poké Ball-shaped Pidgey alarm clock rang only to hurl it like a thrown Poké Ball across the room and fall back asleep.
Now, the Dodrio cries finally roused him. Frowning, Ash blinked groggily as sunlight filtered through the window, warming his face.
"Ahhh why's the sun up already?!" he muttered, shielding his eyes with one hand while scratching his head with the other.
"What time is it? I swear I set the alarm for seven! Why didn't it go off?"
Looking around in a daze, Ash finally spotted the shattered remains of his alarm clock on the floor. The mechanical spring lay twisted beside the plastic Pidgey head, bobbing like a defeated tail.
"Aghhh... no way. I went to bed early, I made all the preparations... Why does this stuff always happen?!"
"It's a curse a lifelong curse I can't shake!" he shouted dramatically, gripping his hair in mock despair.
"Ash~ Ash~"
"If you're awake, come down to wash up and eat breakfast. Professor Oak said the students from the Kalos Region will arrive soon for summer camp!"
Delia's sing-song voice floated up from the kitchen as she bustled about, placing dirty clothes into a laundry basket, ready to take it to the washing machine out back. Her eyes twinkled as she grinned up at the ceiling.
"Swish..."
"Boom boom boom boom…"
A commotion of hurried dressing and stomping on the wood floor followed. Ash dashed out of his room and tore down the stairs like a wild Mankey.
"Mom, why didn't you wake me up?!" he shouted while racing to the bathroom.
"You told me not to," Delia replied sweetly, tilting her head and touching her chin with an innocent finger. "You said you didn't need help anymore, remember?"
"Pffft " Ash spat out a mouthful of toothpaste bubbles, eyeing his mother in the mirror. She was clearly enjoying herself.
"Hee hee hee…" Delia chuckled behind a hand, then headed toward the backyard with the laundry.
"Breakfast is on the table, dear. Don't forget to finish your milk your bones still need growing."
"Yeah, yeah, got it," Ash called, rinsing his mouth and moving on to washing his hair.
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Meanwhile, outside the northern side of Pallet Town, a welcoming team had already assembled. It consisted of local students who had signed up for Professor Oak's international summer camp and their families.
Everyone young or old wore bright expressions. The children waved small triangular flags bearing the Kanto–Kalos Summer Camp emblem, handed out by Oak's lab staff.
Although officially limited to summer camp participants, the event had drawn many curious townsfolk who gathered to witness the arrival of visitors from Kalos.
"Gangpei, can you double-check? Have all our town's campers arrived?"
Standing at the front of the crowd, Professor Oak out of his usual lab coat and instead wearing casual travel clothes and a fishing hat asked his assistant.
"Yes, Professor." The assistant nodded and moved quickly through the group, clipboard in hand.
"…All present except Ash," he reported. "Everyone else is accounted for."
"Ahhh Ash again," Oak muttered with a wry smile. He wore the same tolerant expression he often gave to his own grandson Gary.
Just as Oak prepared to have Gary or a staff member call Ash, a shout rang out:
"Look the bus is coming!"
From the dirt road winding between two hills, a long white bus with a rainbow decal in the middle approached slowly. Its tires kicked up dust as it rolled toward Pallet Town's welcome gate.
"Woah!!"
"Look!!"
As Pallet's students and residents cheered, a similar burst of excitement erupted from inside the bus.
"Finally—we're here! Pallet Town!"
"It's such a cute place!"
"Tch. It's just a countryside bumpkin town. I really don't get why someone as big as Professor Oak would live all the way out here," muttered a boy with stylish glasses.
"Serena, look at that butterfly Pokémon!" a girl with brown pigtails said, nudging the shy girl sitting beside her. "It's so beautiful! Totally different from the ones we have in Kalos."
"Hmm…" Serena clad in a soft pink dress and wearing a wide-brimmed sunhat nodded with quiet enthusiasm, her wide eyes locked on a fluttering Butterfree.
"Tierno! You're always saying you know every Pokémon from every Region. What's that one called?"
"Eh-heh... I know a lot, but not all. I didn't study Kanto much before this trip," said the round boy sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.
"If you wanna know, ask Trevor. He was reading up on Kanto Pokémon before we left."
Next to him, a boy with a yellow mushroom-cut hairstyle peered out the window, already flipping through a Pokédex.
As the summer camp officially prepared to begin, the bus carrying the bright future of Kalos rolled into the quiet heart of Kanto.
And waiting just a little behind schedule Ash Ketchum was still rinsing shampoo from his hair, unaware that his journey with Serena was about to begin.
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