Chapter Text
Ash usually didn’t overthink about anything non-pokemon related.
He was experiencing way too many emotions in one day.
Pikachu picked up on Ash’s troubled expression, but he decided not to confront him in front of Serena.
Serena’s feelings regarding their reunion were bittersweet. She was happy she finally got to see her raven haired boy. On the other hand she didn’t manage to make a move on him. Many nights she practiced confessing to Ash in the mirror. A secret only her Delphox knew. ‘All for nothing’, she felt like her old self again. Her confidence took a substantial hit.
‘Did Ash forget about the kiss?’ Serena thought to herself over and over again. It’s taken her a lot of courage and the thought of him forgetting has made her struggle to hold back tears.
The walk into Cerise Laboratory was long and the awkward silence made it seem even longer.
XXX
It was around 5pm., when Ash and Serena finally made it to the laboratory.
When Ash opened the door he jumped back
“Congratulations, Ash!” the group yelled.
Ash’s startled expression was quickly replaced by a smile.
For a while he decided to stop overthinking and try to enjoy himself.
After eating a Snorlax-worthy amount of food, Ash and Pikachu, now in a much better mood, went and talked with everyone.
After some hours of fun, their faces were inevitably showing all the exhaustion. Slowly but surely they managed to disappear and collapsed on the grass by a beautiful lake. Light pollution was surprisingly low and they could see countless stars being reflected in the lake. Ash was dozing off….
“Hey Ash”
Ash’s eyes opened wide and after a few moments of confusion, he saw Gary standing over him. His eyes relaxed again and a smile formed on his face. “Hey Gary”
“So you decided to sneak out of the party we worked so hard on?” Gary said, his face though, clearly showing he was just joking.
“Yeah sorry…”, Ash answered with a sheepish expression.
“I get you Ash” Gary sat down next to him.
Gary was relaxed, ‘It’s nice seeing him without that mocking face for once’ Ash thought and felt nostalgia wash over him. His rival was now one of his best friends.
“So what’s next?” Gary asked as he stared at the stars.
Ash furrowed his eyebrows “I have no idea”, he admitted.
“Maybe you should revisit some of the places you liked the most.” Gary said after a moment of silence. “Maybe Alola?”
“Hey, that's a really great idea!” Despite sleeping a few moments ago, Ash was now standing with his fist lifted high. “Say Pikachu, which region should we go to?”
“Piikaa..” Pikachu’s expression was puzzling, he wanted to see everyone.
But deep down Ash already knew the answer. There was an empty spot within him. Even after fulfilling his dream, there was something missing.
“Maybe I feel lonely.”
Gary’s eyes widened, he definitely didn’t expect such a huge mood shift.
“Don’t get me wrong, I always have my Pikachu with me…” Ash trailed off.
“I think I understand.” Gary said. And no one spoke for a long time after this.
Gary’s thoughts shifted to the party. ‘There was this girl, Ash talked about her before. She kept close to Ash the whole time.
I think she travelled with him through Kalos.’ Gary then recalled a certain moment
Ash and Pikachu’s appetite was as big as ever as they kept devouring everything that’s been put onto their plates. When the time came to eat dessert they were already stuffed.
“Here Ash let me wipe this for you” Serena said with a faint blush and a small, shy smile.
This gesture froze Ash, his brain failing to process what just happened. He managed to get out a quiet “Th-... thank you”
The table, once loud, fell into complete silence.
Both Ash and Serena’s faces were burning up fast.
“Pi Pikaa” with a cute smile, Pikachu put his face right in front of Serena, gesturing for her to wipe his face as well.
The table erupted into laughs, and the silence finally fell. Unbeknownst to Pikachu he saved Ash and Serena from a lot of teasing.
Gary knew exactly what was happening between Ash and Serena. He never considered himself a matchmaker, but this was too much to pass on. “You should go back to Kalos with Serena, now that she’s here anyway” Adding the last line was a way to make it less obvious, though he was sure Ash wouldn’t have figured it out either way.
“Yeah I was thinking the same thing!” Kalos vibes were always better than other regions. He always thought of Serena as the best girl he travelled with. He spent a lot of alone time with her, because Bonnie would always go to sleep earlier and Clemont watched over her. Talking to her felt comfortable and… right? Ash wasn’t sure how to name that feeling.
“Thank you Gary, I am going to go to sleep now.”
Gary just smiled and waved Ash goodbye.
XXX
In the morning Ash got up early and packed all his things.
He’s feeling nervous on his way to Serena. ‘I am just gonna ask her to travel with me again, it’s not a big deal…. WHY AM I SO NERVOUS?!”
As he stood in front of Serena’s room he took a few deep breaths.
Serena woke up to someone knocking on her door. Still sleepy with an annoyed expression, she got up. At the moment she didn’t care about her messy hair or her rather childish pajamas.
She opened the door.
“H-Hey Se-”
Serena quickly slammed the door shut. Panicking, she quickly tried to fix at least her hair. After looking in the mirror, it finally looked acceptable. So she opened the door again, but this time she peeked, so only her head was showing.
“Sorry Ash I umm… sorry” She was obviously embarrassed, and didn’t want Ash to know why she shut the door.
“Eh okay, so I wanted to ask… you’re going back to Kalos today right? Do you think maybe I could go and travel with you once more?” Ash said while looking away, his face reddened a bit.
“YES!!!” Serena yelled without hesitation, she quickly realised how loud she said that and hid her head behind the door.
Ash smiled warmly “Well that’s great! I can’t wait to meet our friends and travel with them again!” Finally he relaxed, returning back to his confident self.