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Make the best episode ever

I would really like to see a Cinderace focused episode, preferably one with no human interaction at all, like SM126 for example, something like that would be neat.
 
A TRio-focused episodes, in which Jessie and James get some of their old Pokemon back-

Frustrated after a string of losses against Ash and Goh, the TRio attempt to rig the the Prize Master so that they can only get the best of the best. After using their technological know-how to fiddle with the machine for a while, they test it out and get a some-what worn Pokeball. Upon opening they're greeted with Seviper, one the group instantly recognizes as Jessie's! She tries not to cry, but she can't help but hug the Pokemon that had being with her for so long and had helped her with so many contests. She, likes James, had always hated that they had to give up their long-time companions, but the Boss's words were law.

Now, with the knowledge that they could get their old Pokemon back, Jessie and James just decide to break the machine. They excitedly, but carelessly, release Pokemon left and right until Yanmega, Mine. Jr, Carnivine, Inkay, Yamask, Woobat and Gourgeist. Course its not everyone; Arbok and Weezing are still living in the wild, Growlie's still with Jame's parents, Dustox is still off with her mate, Chimeco's in Kanto and Cacnea's back in Sinnoh. But it was still a touching scene and watching them all hug it out moved Meowth to tears. After they got their bearings back it was then they noticed all the released Pokemon and the broken machine.

After an apologetic call to Giovanni and a harsh reprimand from said boss, he sent them another machine and forced them to return all the released Pokemon. He forbade them from using another prize master...but he's completely unaware that Jessie and James kept their old Pokemon. They don't plan on letting them go back into storage like objects and, if it comes down to it, they'll just travel to Alola to live with their Alolan Pokemon.
 
Didn't he turn to a super saiyan or something and fly away from the anime like he never existed?

Best episode ever: Serena meets Gary and suddenly we realize she mistook Ash for Gary and all her memories were actually of Gary. Lol... Plot twist, it was actually Samuel Oak who helped her off the ground when she was at camp.

Nah. The anime should reveal Leaf was there all along and ship her with Gary.
 
Serena return idea in Journeys:

Ash and Goh watch Serena at a contest. Ash says “You were beautiful out there, and still are to me. I now realize my feelings for you” and taps Serena on the back, she turns around blushing and he kisses her. Serena is in shock and kisses him back. They then stare into each other’s eyes.

Goh then watched and says: Wow, never knew Ash had a girlfriend

Journeys plz
 
Serena return idea in Journeys:

Ash and Goh watch Serena at a contest. Ash says “You were beautiful out there, and still are to me. I now realize my feelings for you” and taps Serena on the back, she turns around blushing and he kisses her. Serena is in shock and kisses him back. They then stare into each other’s eyes.

Goh then watched and says: Wow, never knew Ash had a girlfriend

Journeys plz
*gag*
 
Summer camp reunion story line
Gou, Ash and Chloe get an invitation to the reunion party of the summer camp. It will be held in Oaks garden. Everyone gathers and Serena busts in. Ppl notice her and ask for signatures. Then she spots Ash and starts blushing. Pikachu gives her a big hug. Ash spots Serena and acts shy. Serena introduce her to Gou and Chloe. Chloe says she is a big fan of her. She asks how she knows Ash. Serena explains. Ash mention that Chloe hasnt found a goal yet. Serena gives her some advice that nothing is a waste of time . Then someone mentions the Team Flare accident. Serena and Satoshi dont respond well. Ash starts crying thinking of Greninja and runs away. Serena wastes no moment and the gets him out of the forest (reserve order than the original). They kiss, Chloe faints, Gou is starstruck and Ash pokemon start to inspect Serena and Bayleef isnt convinced.

This is just an idea. Not impossible.
 
Their reunion lasts for a few episodes during a story arc that is based on Delta Episode from ORAS.

The arc starts with Professor Cerise sending Ash and Goh on a mission to Hoenn to collect samples from a small meteorite that has been detected and is about to land somewhere in Hoenn. Professor Cerise believes the meteorite is connected to the Alien Pokemon Deoxys, and due to Deoxys' unstable DNA, it might help in the research about the origin of Pokemon. Ash and Goh stay at Slateport City as the meteorite is only expected to only land in a few days. The next day, Ash decides to spend his time at a Battle Colosseum where a whole bunch of other PWC trainers are battling each other. Meanwhile, Goh decides to go catch some Pokemon, but on his way, he comes across a street gambler with one of those old gambling machines with the little ball. The man offers bystanders a free first try, and some people are already betting. The prize is revealed to be a ticket to the Slateport finals of the "Pokemon Performance World Competition", a sort of Pokemon Contest/Showcase counterpart to the PWC. None of the bystanders win and Goh starts walking away, but Cinderace really wants a try after seeing a poster for the finals with a Delphox on it and convinces Goh to let him try once. Cinderace wins the tickets on the first try, much to Goh's surprise. They go to the finals where it is revealed that the PPWC is structured as such: First there is a tournament in each major city, then the winners of each major city compete against each other, and finally, every winner from each participating region compete against each other. A match's winner is decided by 4 judges and votes from the audience.

Serena is one of the competitors in the Slateport finals, the other one is a girl that seems familiar with Serena, like a friendly rival. Serena is revealed to have evolved her Pancham into Pangoro, and obtained an Absol, Altaria and Aggron, but most importantly, her Braixen has evolved into a Delphox with Battle Bond (!!!). Serena eventually wins the match and continues on to the regional championship, whem the narrator comes up to stage and reveals that Professor Birch is sponsoring today's match in order to get more trainers to start their journey. Any audience member who wants to try their chances against Serena will be able to choose a Treecko, Torchic or Mudkip as a gift, but if they lose, Serena gets to choose instead. Cinderace immediately volunteers, much to Goh's dismay, but it's probably just because Cinderace wants to meet Delphox up close. Goh reluctantly comes up to stage and Serena, of course, absolutely wipes the floor with him, and chooses to take Mudkip. The show is over and Serena and Goh are talking backstage, she mentions a trainer that inspired her to take her own path, and then they both go out of the stadium and say their goodbyes. Ash has left the stadium and Goh sees him and runs up to him while calling out his name, Serena takes a moment to react and blushes but Goh and Ash have already disappeared into the crowd.

And yes, there is an episode or two dedicated to Ash battling in the colosseum while Goh is getting his butt kicked by Serena.

Then later in the Arc, Goh and Ash have arrived at the predicted landing site, right near the sky pillar, where Zinnia tells them about Deoxys, a space virus who reproduces by infecting planets and turning them into Deoxys-producing factories, just like a virus does to a cell. She explains that if not for Rayquaza constantly fighting it, it would've destroyed the planet by now. Then, the meteorite arrives, when oops, it's actually a meteorite shower, and they're all much larger than expected. Deoxys is launching an all-out attack on Hoenn to weaken its infrastructure and prepare for invasion. Oh, and it's more than one Deoxys, hence they were able to get past Rayquaza. Rayquaza falls from the sky weakened, and lands on Sky Pillar. It seems extremely weakened and pretty much dying, so Goh is about to capture it when Zinnia pushes him out of the way and explains that she spent her whole life studying myths about Rayquaza and captures it herself. They all go to the core of the sky pillar, where Zinnia reveals that Rayquaza's Mega Stone is in, and it's huge. She releases it near the Mega Stone but to no avail.

Meanwhile, there's a power outage in all of Hoenn due to the meteors and some people have noticed the meteor shower and Rayquaza falling from the sky. Serena and her friend get that information from bystanders and her friend suggests they look for a place to hide, but Serena decides fo take action, inspired by a certain Shonen protagonist. She runs up to Sky Pillar where she meets Ash, Goh and Zinnia, and they explain the situation. Ash is surprised to see her and she blushes, while Goh is surprised to know that Ash and Serena have met before, but there's no time for that. Rayquaza still hasn't recovered, and Zinnia explains that in ancient times, it was able to Mega Evolve with the power of all the people of Hoenn. Serena takes out filming equipment, when Goh reminds her of the power outage. Rayquaza uses the little power it has left to fire a powerful Thunder into the sky, temporarily powering all of Hoenn. Serena starts a broadcast which is widely spread do to her local icon status as a performer, and asks the people of Hoenn to lend Rayquaza their power. The giant Rayquazite starts glowing and Rayquaza has its power restored while Mega Evolving in the process. Ash, Pikachu, Goh, Serena, Cinderace, Lucario and Delphox all ride atop Rayquaza to space, while Zinnia watches them fly away and breaks Rayquaza's pokeball, knowing it has a job as the protector of the planet. They all get off on a small asteroid field where all the Deoxys have gathered. Rayquaza generates a small atmosphere and gravitational field around the Asteroid Field, and the gang has an epic 3-part battle with the Deoxys. Near the end of the battle, Goh remembers the original purpose they came to Hoenn and throws a Pokeball at a weakened Deoxys, but it fails and the Deoxys breaks out. Serena gives him and Ultra Ball instead and he catched the Deoxys successfully.

After they all return to Earth, Ash and Serena have a friendly battle, the outcome of which not revealed, just like in the end of XY. At their goodbye, Ash notices Serena blushing and puts his hand out. They shake hands and say goodbye, saying they'll meet again, and the episode ends, but not before Goh realizes he hasn't caught a single Hoenn Pokemon during their whole trip. Ash reminds him if Deoxys but Goh can't seem to find its Pokeball. They return to Cerise Laboratory with Deoxys' Pokedex Data from Goh and a small meteorite sample Ash collected while they eere in space.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Gladly. Get some popcorn ready, we're going full-on fanfic territory.

Their reunion lasts for a few episodes during a story arc that is based on Delta Episode from ORAS.

The arc starts with Professor Cerise sending Ash and Goh on a mission to Hoenn to collect samples from a small meteorite that has been detected and is about to land somewhere in Hoenn. Professor Cerise believes the meteorite is connected to the Alien Pokemon Deoxys, and due to Deoxys' unstable DNA, it might help in the research about the origin of Pokemon. Ash and Goh stay at Slateport City as the meteorite is only expected to only land in a few days. The next day, Ash decides to spend his time at a Battle Colosseum where a whole bunch of other PWC trainers are battling each other. Meanwhile, Goh decides to go catch some Pokemon, but on his way, he comes across a street gambler with one of those old gambling machines with the little ball. The man offers bystanders a free first try, and some people are already betting. The prize is revealed to be a ticket to the Slateport finals of the "Pokemon Performance World Competition", a sort of Pokemon Contest/Showcase counterpart to the PWC. None of the bystanders win and Goh starts walking away, but Cinderace really wants a try after seeing a poster for the finals with a Delphox on it and convinces Goh to let him try once. Cinderace wins the tickets on the first try, much to Goh's surprise. They go to the finals where it is revealed that the PPWC is structured as such: First there is a tournament in each major city, then the winners of each major city compete against each other, and finally, every winner from each participating region compete against each other. A match's winner is decided by 4 judges and votes from the audience.

Serena is one of the competitors in the Slateport finals, the other one is a girl that seems familiar with Serena, like a friendly rival. Serena is revealed to have evolved her Pancham into Pangoro, and obtained an Absol, Altaria and Aggron, but most importantly, her Braixen has evolved into a Delphox with Battle Bond (!!!). Serena eventually wins the match and continues on to the regional championship, whem the narrator comes up to stage and reveals that Professor Birch is sponsoring today's match in order to get more trainers to start their journey. Any audience member who wants to try their chances against Serena will be able to choose a Treecko, Torchic or Mudkip as a gift, but if they lose, Serena gets to choose instead. Cinderace immediately volunteers, much to Goh's dismay, but it's probably just because Cinderace wants to meet Delphox up close. Goh reluctantly comes up to stage and Serena, of course, absolutely wipes the floor with him, and chooses to take Mudkip. The show is over and Serena and Goh are talking backstage, she mentions a trainer that inspired her to take her own path, and then they both go out of the stadium and say their goodbyes. Ash has left the stadium and Goh sees him and runs up to him while calling out his name, Serena takes a moment to react and blushes but Goh and Ash have already disappeared into the crowd.

And yes, there is an episode or two dedicated to Ash battling in the colosseum while Goh is getting his butt kicked by Serena.

Then later in the Arc, Goh and Ash have arrived at the predicted landing site, right near the sky pillar, where Zinnia tells them about Deoxys, a space virus who reproduces by infecting planets and turning them into Deoxys-producing factories, just like a virus does to a cell. She explains that if not for Rayquaza constantly fighting it, it would've destroyed the planet by now. Then, the meteorite arrives, when oops, it's actually a meteorite shower, and they're all much larger than expected. Deoxys is launching an all-out attack on Hoenn to weaken its infrastructure and prepare for invasion. Oh, and it's more than one Deoxys, hence they were able to get past Rayquaza. Rayquaza falls from the sky weakened, and lands on Sky Pillar. It seems extremely weakened and pretty much dying, so Goh is about to capture it when Zinnia pushes him out of the way and explains that she spent her whole life studying myths about Rayquaza and captures it herself. They all go to the core of the sky pillar, where Zinnia reveals that Rayquaza's Mega Stone is in, and it's huge. She releases it near the Mega Stone but to no avail.

Meanwhile, there's a power outage in all of Hoenn due to the meteors and some people have noticed the meteor shower and Rayquaza falling from the sky. Serena and her friend get that information from bystanders and her friend suggests they look for a place to hide, but Serena decides fo take action, inspired by a certain Shonen protagonist. She runs up to Sky Pillar where she meets Ash, Goh and Zinnia, and they explain the situation. Ash is surprised to see her and she blushes, while Goh is surprised to know that Ash and Serena have met before, but there's no time for that. Rayquaza still hasn't recovered, and Zinnia explains that in ancient times, it was able to Mega Evolve with the power of all the people of Hoenn. Serena takes out filming equipment, when Goh reminds her of the power outage. Rayquaza uses the little power it has left to fire a powerful Thunder into the sky, temporarily powering all of Hoenn. Serena starts a broadcast which is widely spread do to her local icon status as a performer, and asks the people of Hoenn to lend Rayquaza their power. The giant Rayquazite starts glowing and Rayquaza has its power restored while Mega Evolving in the process. Ash, Pikachu, Goh, Serena, Cinderace, Lucario and Delphox all ride atop Rayquaza to space, while Zinnia watches them fly away and breaks Rayquaza's pokeball, knowing it has a job as the protector of the planet. They all get off on a small asteroid field where all the Deoxys have gathered. Rayquaza generates a small atmosphere and gravitational field around the Asteroid Field, and the gang has an epic 3-part battle with the Deoxys. Near the end of the battle, Goh remembers the original purpose they came to Hoenn and throws a Pokeball at a weakened Deoxys, but it fails and the Deoxys breaks out. Serena gives him and Ultra Ball instead and he catched the Deoxys successfully.

After they all return to Earth, Ash and Serena have a friendly battle, the outcome of which not revealed, just like in the end of XY. At their goodbye, Ash notices Serena blushing and puts his hand out. They shake hands and say goodbye, saying they'll meet again, and the episode ends, but not before Goh realizes he hasn't caught a single Hoenn Pokemon during their whole trip. Ash reminds him if Deoxys but Goh can't seem to find its Pokeball. They return to Cerise Laboratory with Deoxys' Pokedex Data from Goh and a small meteorite sample Ash collected while they eere in space.
Good job. The problem is with Serena you can go many different ways.
 
Gladly. Get some popcorn ready, we're going full-on fanfic territory.

Their reunion lasts for a few episodes during a story arc that is based on Delta Episode from ORAS.

The arc starts with Professor Cerise sending Ash and Goh on a mission to Hoenn to collect samples from a small meteorite that has been detected and is about to land somewhere in Hoenn. Professor Cerise believes the meteorite is connected to the Alien Pokemon Deoxys, and due to Deoxys' unstable DNA, it might help in the research about the origin of Pokemon. Ash and Goh stay at Slateport City as the meteorite is only expected to only land in a few days. The next day, Ash decides to spend his time at a Battle Colosseum where a whole bunch of other PWC trainers are battling each other. Meanwhile, Goh decides to go catch some Pokemon, but on his way, he comes across a street gambler with one of those old gambling machines with the little ball. The man offers bystanders a free first try, and some people are already betting. The prize is revealed to be a ticket to the Slateport finals of the "Pokemon Performance World Competition", a sort of Pokemon Contest/Showcase counterpart to the PWC. None of the bystanders win and Goh starts walking away, but Cinderace really wants a try after seeing a poster for the finals with a Delphox on it and convinces Goh to let him try once. Cinderace wins the tickets on the first try, much to Goh's surprise. They go to the finals where it is revealed that the PPWC is structured as such: First there is a tournament in each major city, then the winners of each major city compete against each other, and finally, every winner from each participating region compete against each other. A match's winner is decided by 4 judges and votes from the audience.

Serena is one of the competitors in the Slateport finals, the other one is a girl that seems familiar with Serena, like a friendly rival. Serena is revealed to have evolved her Pancham into Pangoro, and obtained an Absol, Altaria and Aggron, but most importantly, her Braixen has evolved into a Delphox with Battle Bond (!!!). Serena eventually wins the match and continues on to the regional championship, whem the narrator comes up to stage and reveals that Professor Birch is sponsoring today's match in order to get more trainers to start their journey. Any audience member who wants to try their chances against Serena will be able to choose a Treecko, Torchic or Mudkip as a gift, but if they lose, Serena gets to choose instead. Cinderace immediately volunteers, much to Goh's dismay, but it's probably just because Cinderace wants to meet Delphox up close. Goh reluctantly comes up to stage and Serena, of course, absolutely wipes the floor with him, and chooses to take Mudkip. The show is over and Serena and Goh are talking backstage, she mentions a trainer that inspired her to take her own path, and then they both go out of the stadium and say their goodbyes. Ash has left the stadium and Goh sees him and runs up to him while calling out his name, Serena takes a moment to react and blushes but Goh and Ash have already disappeared into the crowd.

And yes, there is an episode or two dedicated to Ash battling in the colosseum while Goh is getting his butt kicked by Serena.

Then later in the Arc, Goh and Ash have arrived at the predicted landing site, right near the sky pillar, where Zinnia tells them about Deoxys, a space virus who reproduces by infecting planets and turning them into Deoxys-producing factories, just like a virus does to a cell. She explains that if not for Rayquaza constantly fighting it, it would've destroyed the planet by now. Then, the meteorite arrives, when oops, it's actually a meteorite shower, and they're all much larger than expected. Deoxys is launching an all-out attack on Hoenn to weaken its infrastructure and prepare for invasion. Oh, and it's more than one Deoxys, hence they were able to get past Rayquaza. Rayquaza falls from the sky weakened, and lands on Sky Pillar. It seems extremely weakened and pretty much dying, so Goh is about to capture it when Zinnia pushes him out of the way and explains that she spent her whole life studying myths about Rayquaza and captures it herself. They all go to the core of the sky pillar, where Zinnia reveals that Rayquaza's Mega Stone is in, and it's huge. She releases it near the Mega Stone but to no avail.

Meanwhile, there's a power outage in all of Hoenn due to the meteors and some people have noticed the meteor shower and Rayquaza falling from the sky. Serena and her friend get that information from bystanders and her friend suggests they look for a place to hide, but Serena decides fo take action, inspired by a certain Shonen protagonist. She runs up to Sky Pillar where she meets Ash, Goh and Zinnia, and they explain the situation. Ash is surprised to see her and she blushes, while Goh is surprised to know that Ash and Serena have met before, but there's no time for that. Rayquaza still hasn't recovered, and Zinnia explains that in ancient times, it was able to Mega Evolve with the power of all the people of Hoenn. Serena takes out filming equipment, when Goh reminds her of the power outage. Rayquaza uses the little power it has left to fire a powerful Thunder into the sky, temporarily powering all of Hoenn. Serena starts a broadcast which is widely spread do to her local icon status as a performer, and asks the people of Hoenn to lend Rayquaza their power. The giant Rayquazite starts glowing and Rayquaza has its power restored while Mega Evolving in the process. Ash, Pikachu, Goh, Serena, Cinderace, Lucario and Delphox all ride atop Rayquaza to space, while Zinnia watches them fly away and breaks Rayquaza's pokeball, knowing it has a job as the protector of the planet. They all get off on a small asteroid field where all the Deoxys have gathered. Rayquaza generates a small atmosphere and gravitational field around the Asteroid Field, and the gang has an epic 3-part battle with the Deoxys. Near the end of the battle, Goh remembers the original purpose they came to Hoenn and throws a Pokeball at a weakened Deoxys, but it fails and the Deoxys breaks out. Serena gives him and Ultra Ball instead and he catched the Deoxys successfully.

After they all return to Earth, Ash and Serena have a friendly battle, the outcome of which not revealed, just like in the end of XY. At their goodbye, Ash notices Serena blushing and puts his hand out. They shake hands and say goodbye, saying they'll meet again, and the episode ends, but not before Goh realizes he hasn't caught a single Hoenn Pokemon during their whole trip. Ash reminds him if Deoxys but Goh can't seem to find its Pokeball. They return to Cerise Laboratory with Deoxys' Pokedex Data from Goh and a small meteorite sample Ash collected while they eere in space.
Okay, so while the arc overall isn't bad and definitely is something that would make Journeys better than...whatever it currently is, there are a few issues I have.
First off, you mention that Serena has battle bond with her Delphox? To that, I ask: why? How? When??? Her pokemon are pretty generic and kinda cliche in terms of fanfiction, though I like how you gave her an Aggron. But at the same time, I feel that an Aggron just doesn't really suit Serena somehow...but it's just a feeling so don't take that small bit as constructive criticism.
Another thing, it feels as if there is too much going on here. What exactly is the focus of the arc? Serena, the tournament, or the Rayquaza thing? While there isn't anything inherently wrong with including all this, the execution just makes it feel slightly overwhelming. The beginning makes it seem as if the focus is on rayquaza, but then you throw in the tournament and Serena which makes you start to question things. The PPWC is a VERY interesting concept, and I would be lying if I said that I didn't lean in once I read that. However, because of how divided the focus is, it feels rather jarring and doesn't have much relevance or connection to the rayquaza arc.
Because of that, Serena's appearance doesn't feel relevent-almost like she's just there for "the sake of returning" and doesn't add much except for introducing the PPWC to the audience. But like I said, the focus deviates away from that when not only is Serena already the winner, but why aren't people like Dawn or May mentioned or even in this competition? It's a contest and performance counterpart to the PWC, correct? So why is Serena in Hoenn, but May isn't even mentioned? Actually, wait, where the hell is Steven when all this is happening???(Dammit Steven do your job! :LOL: )
Goh catching Deoxys one hundred percent feels like something the anime would do though, even if it doesn't make much sense and makes me question why Serena just has an Ultra Ball on hand.
While I like the prospect of Ash and Serena having a friendly battle as a parallel to their last battle, it just feels like Nostalgia bait since Serena didn't really have a real purpose in this arc. I don't particular mind either way, though, so if you choose to ignore this piece of criticism that's perfectly acceptable.
So, all in all, I like the concept and overall idea you were going for, but I think the execution and focus could be better. If the focus was merely on the PPWC and Serena, it would've been fine, though you still would have to come up with some way to make her appearance relevant. If you focused on just rayquaza and Serena...I guess that's okay??? It just would feel a bit too out of place-my advice would be to look over past companion returns and see which ones worked well and which ones just felt like it didn't have much relevance or affect on anything.
Just some things for you to think about. However you choose to take this criticism is entirely up to you. ;):bulbaLove:
 
Good job. The problem is with Serena you can go many different ways.
Okay, so while the arc overall isn't bad and definitely is something that would make Journeys better than...whatever it currently is, there are a few issues I have.
First off, you mention that Serena has battle bond with her Delphox? To that, I ask: why? How? When??? Her pokemon are pretty generic and kinda cliche in terms of fanfiction, though I like how you gave her an Aggron. But at the same time, I feel that an Aggron just doesn't really suit Serena somehow...but it's just a feeling so don't take that small bit as constructive criticism.
Another thing, it feels as if there is too much going on here. What exactly is the focus of the arc? Serena, the tournament, or the Rayquaza thing? While there isn't anything inherently wrong with including all this, the execution just makes it feel slightly overwhelming. The beginning makes it seem as if the focus is on rayquaza, but then you throw in the tournament and Serena which makes you start to question things. The PPWC is a VERY interesting concept, and I would be lying if I said that I didn't lean in once I read that. However, because of how divided the focus is, it feels rather jarring and doesn't have much relevance or connection to the rayquaza arc.
Because of that, Serena's appearance doesn't feel relevent-almost like she's just there for "the sake of returning" and doesn't add much except for introducing the PPWC to the audience. But like I said, the focus deviates away from that when not only is Serena already the winner, but why aren't people like Dawn or May mentioned or even in this competition? It's a contest and performance counterpart to the PWC, correct? So why is Serena in Hoenn, but May isn't even mentioned? Actually, wait, where the hell is Steven when all this is happening???(Dammit Steven do your job! :LOL: )
Goh catching Deoxys one hundred percent feels like something the anime would do though, even if it doesn't make much sense and makes me question why Serena just has an Ultra Ball on hand.
While I like the prospect of Ash and Serena having a friendly battle as a parallel to their last battle, it just feels like Nostalgia bait since Serena didn't really have a real purpose in this arc. I don't particular mind either way, though, so if you choose to ignore this piece of criticism that's perfectly acceptable.
So, all in all, I like the concept and overall idea you were going for, but I think the execution and focus could be better. If the focus was merely on the PPWC and Serena, it would've been fine, though you still would have to come up with some way to make her appearance relevant. If you focused on just rayquaza and Serena...I guess that's okay??? It just would feel a bit too out of place-my advice would be to look over past companion returns and see which ones worked well and which ones just felt like it didn't have much relevance or affect on anything.
Just some things for you to think about. However you choose to take this criticism is entirely up to you. ;):bulbaLove:

Okay, so let me explain some things, because I removed some things on my original post because I didn't want it to be too long, and I'm new to the forum and don't know if there's a character limit:

The PPWC thing at the beginning exists to reintroduce Serena, and I thought of it as a recurring concept in the series that would also help reintroduce characters like Dawn and May. The thing with the battle tournament that Ash is participating in is just so it wouldn't feel like Goh is getting more focus than Ash, since the Serena reintroduction episode will mainly feature Goh.

I gave Serena an Aggron specifically so her team wouldn't look too stereotypical.

The Battle Bond thing, I didn't want the post to be too long so I didn't really explain it, but basically Serena has been in Hoenn for a while and has become sort of a local icon, like a famous performer. The Battle Bond is just to show how much she grew as a trainer, and that she started relying on her Pokemon rather than Ash. It also mostly exists for fanservice, so yeah... I may be a bit guilty of c r i n g e.

The arc is meant to focus on the Rayquaza thing, the Goh episode exists to reintroduce Serena, and the reason she's in this arc at all is to show her being independent and how she can now take actions and stand up by herself. She's meant to be a recurring character after that, like Goh sometimes watching her performances on TV, and the PPWC is also meant to be a recurring theme. The Rayquaza arc and the PPWC are both seperate ideas that I had, but I integrated them into each other because it would be more interesting than just Goh randomly being like "hey professor Cerise can we spend money on plane tickets so we can see this thing". I don't think that simply showing Serena participating in a contest without having her take part in some sort of an arc would show a lot of character development, because I really want Serena to be developed and finally be able to stand up and take actions on her own, and obviously they could take the cheap way and shove in Team Rocket but if we're getting any major Non-Galar/Mew arcs in Journeys, Delta Episode is already a top contender other than Rainbow Rocket, and that's a good oppurtunity for Serena to show independence.
 
The Battle Bond thing, I didn't want the post to be too long so I didn't really explain it, but basically Serena has been in Hoenn for a while and has become sort of a local icon, like a famous performer. The Battle Bond is just to show how much she grew as a trainer, and that she started relying on her Pokemon rather than Ash. It also mostly exists for fanservice, so yeah... I may be a bit guilty of c r i n g e.
You already acknowledge that the Battle Bond is a problem simply by saying it's cringe, so I won't add anything else and hope you're perfectly able to understand why that won't work.

the reason she's in this arc at all is to show her being independent and how she can now take actions and stand up by herself.
I don't think that simply showing Serena participating in a contest without having her take part in some sort of an arc would show a lot of character development, because I really want Serena to be developed and finally be able to stand up and take actions on her own, and obviously they could take the cheap way and shove in Team Rocket but if we're getting any major Non-Galar/Mew arcs in Journeys, Delta Episode is already a top contender other than Rainbow Rocket, and that's a good oppurtunity for Serena to show independence.
While there isn't anything wrong with wanting to show how far Serena has come, her development arc really was already completed back in XYZ. There's a reason people find her character arc to be the best one out of the whole series-it was the most complete. Showing independence in this kind of situation feels weird, since she already showed independence in a dangerous situation from the Flare Arc in XYZ. She already has independence. If you had her influence others in some way, like say, Chloe, then her appearance would make more sense. Like I said, her appearance here still feels irrelevant.

The Rayquaza arc and the PPWC are both seperate ideas that I had, but I integrated them into each other because it would be more interesting than just Goh randomly being like "hey professor Cerise can we spend money on plane tickets so we can see this thing
I feel like you would be able to find some other way around that instead of just putting them together. Like I said, none of your ideas are bad, but they need some tweaking in order to make sense.

I gave Serena an Aggron specifically so her team wouldn't look too stereotypical
That's perfectly fine. I already said that it was more of a personal nitpick rather than actual advice you could use, but her having an Altaria AND an Absol already leaned towards stereotypical.

On another note, you don't have to worry about character limits and if you feel a post is too long, use the spoiler tag.
And I still really do find the PPWC as a recurring concept appealing.
 
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