"Man am I stuffed! That's was some great food Clemont!" Ash said as he finished up the last remaining food on his plate.
"Why, thank you! As I've always said, cooking is just like inventing, you need the right tools to create the perfect creation!" Clemont said proudly.
"If the invention doesn't blow up that is." Bonnie said sarcastically.
"Bonnie!" Clemont yelled.
All Serena could do was giggle at the interaction of the two siblings. After traveling with Ash, Clemont and Bonnie. She felt like they were all like family to her, Clemont being the smart and somewhat dorky brother he never had. Bonnie being the cute, energetic little sister she never had. And Ash, the boy he had a crush on for so long. It may seem cheesy, but the phrase "Love at first sight" really did apply to Serena when Ash helped her at Professor Oak's Summer Camp all those years ago.
"So, we still have some time left before turning in for the night." Ash said. "How about we set up a campfire and tell stories?"
"That's sounds like a great idea!" Clemont agreed. "I'll go find some wood for the fire."
"I know this recipe for a hot drink that'll be perfect at a time like this." Serena said. "Bonnie, want to help out?"
"Of course I would!" Bonnie happily said as she went off to help out Serena.
After about 20 minutes the campfire was set up and lit. Ash with Pikachu at his legs, Serena, Clemont and Bonnie sat down with a cup of hot Ever Grande Tea in hand. The forest that they were in was pleasantly quiet, with all the wild Pokemon now heading back to their habitats and nocturnal Pokemon coming out into the night.
"I remember hearing that this tea came from the Hoenn region." Serena said.
"Interesting." Ash said. "Anyway, who wants to tell a story first?"
"Oh I have a story!" Bonnie said excitedly.
"Then by all means, go ahead Bonnie."
"So this was all the way back when we still haven't met you guys. Back then when my big brother had just became the Lumiose Gym Leader. He had this really wacky idea for turning the gym into something completely different!"
"Oh no, not this again..." Clemont said as he tried to hide the shame in his voice.
"He had turned the entire gym into a game show! The trainers had to guess the Pokemon before being able to challenge him!"
"Are you serious?!" Ash said. Trying to prevent himself from bursting with laughter.
"Hey! I wanted to test the trainers of their knowledge of Pokemon before being able to challenge me!" Clemont protested.
"But was a game show really necessary Clemont?" Serena said. She too was also trying to resist laughing.
"After awhile he got a lot of complaints from trainers saying that the gym "made no sense". At first my big brother thought nothing of it. But after less and less challengers start coming in because of how ridiculous the gym was set up and how some of them don't know the Pokemon that were given, he had to scrap the whole game show idea and went back to just battling a challenger on a plain battleground."
"Oh, the agony..." Clemont covered his face in shame. "That was before I was experience in being a gym leader and thought that was a good idea."
"Oh cheer up Clemont, at least you learnt from that mistake and have since become a better gym leader!" Ash encouraged.
"Yeah, I guess so, thanks. Hey, now that I think about it, I do have a story to share!"
"Tell us about it!" Ash said excitingly.
"So this happened back when I left you guys to go back to Lumiose City to prepare for Ash's gym battle with me. There was this really interesting challenger that I met at the gym, he said he had come all the way from the Unova region."
"Wow, the Unova region?! That's really far." Serena said in surprised.
"Yeah, he said something about wanting to challenge the Kalos League after winning something in the Unova region called the... what was it called again? The Clubsplosion I think?"
Ash was surprised when he heard Clemont say Clubsplosion. He remembered battling in that tournament like it was just yesterday. Now that he thought about it, he did remembered one of his rivals winning in the Clubsplosion tournament. He just couldn't put his finger on what that guys name was.
"Did... did you ask what his name was?" Ash asked.
"Yeah, I think it Stefan, or Stephanie, or something close to that."
It was then Ash finally remembered who that trainer was.
"Oh! You mean Stephan?"
"Yeah! That was his name! How did you know?" Clemont wondered.
"He was a rival of mine when I was traveling in the Unova region." Ash said.
"Wow! You went to the Unova region!?" Bonnie said in excitement. "What does it look like?! Are they many types of Pokemon?! Were they a lot of girls I could keep for Clemont?!"
"Bonnie!" Clemont shot back in defense.
"Heheh... Yeah the region was amazing, there were so many different Pokemons there. Even I was surprised at the abundance of Pokemon there."
"Soooooo cool!" Bonnie squealed.
"Speaking of which, you never really told us about what you did before coming to Kalos Ash." Clemont said.
Ash felt surprised when he had realized that. He had been traveling with Serena, Clemont and Bonnie for so long and not even once had he told them about his previous adventures?
"Really? I've never told you about my past adventures? Whoops." Ash said, scratching his head nervously.
"So, how many regions have been to Ash?" Serena asked.
"Including Kalos? Six regions plus two archipelagos."
"SIX!?" The rest of the group yelled in surprise.
"Yeah, has been some journey, right Pikachu?" Ash said as he patted Pikachu.
"Pika pika!"
"So... tell us about your adventures Ash?" Clemont requested.
"Oh where to begin?" Ash said as took a sip of his tea before he continued talking. "As you all know I came from Kanto, so it was only logical I started adventuring in Kanto first. My adventure didn't really got off to a great start, I overslept the morning I was going to get my first Pokemon."
"Yikes, that must have been a pain." Clemont commented.
"You said it, so when I was going to get my first Pokemon, Professor Oak said that all the Pokemon were already taken. You should have seen the look on my face when they weren't any Pokemon, I thought my journey had ended before it had even started. But then, it was as if it was destiny. Professor Oak had one last Pokemon left, and that Pokemon, was Pikachu."
"Oh wow! So that's how it all began!" Bonnie said.
"It was different than it was now, back then Pikachu was a completely different Pokemon. He wouldn't listen to me, would mock me, that kind of stuff."
"So what changed that?" Serena asked.
"Well, things happened and we got chased by a bunch of Spearows. I ended jumping into a river and was then saved by my now long time traveling companion and friend, Misty."
"Misty?" Serena asked.
"Yeah, she was the Cerulean City Gym Leader. Back then she was really a hot headed person, and was actually more of a tomboy." Ash said.
"So what did you do after that?" Clemont asked.
"Oh, uh... I "borrowed" Misty's bike to get to the nearest Pokemon Centre because Pikachu was injured."
"You what?!" Clemont, Bonnie and Serena all said.
"Ash Ketchum, that's really rude of you!" Serena lectured.
"I'm sorry! I did return her bike after that!" Ash lied, not wanting to tell them about how he only returned her bike after he had returned from Johto. "Anyway, I paddled as hard as I could to escape from the Spearows that were still chasing us. It also started raining heavily, which caused me to fall off from the bike. I had to protect Pikachu no matter what, so when the Spearows started attacking, I protected Pikachu with my body. But after that, Pikachu decided to leap in front of me and attack the Spearows himself, it was just then a bolt of lightning struck Pikachu as it was using Thunder Shock, causing it to overcharge and almost obliterating everything in its path. We were saved, the Spearows had fled, and thus began our long lasting friendship."
"Wow... that's was a really heartwarming story of how you met Pikachu!" Bonnie said, almost in tears at how touching the story was.
"Yeah, and that was only the beginning, I still had a whole journey ahead of me."
Ash continued to tell about his adventures to Serena, Clemont and Bonnie. At times listening in awe at Ash's adventures through Kanto, The Orange Islands, Johto, Hoenn, The Battle Frontier, Sinnoh, Unova, Decalora Islands, and now Kalos. Ash had also told them about the traveling companions he had met.
Brock, a Gym Leader who always try to find girls. Which appropriately Bonnie commented about how she should ask him to help her find girls for his big brother.
Tracy, who was an artist.
May, a girl whom Ash had mentored and went on to become a Pokemon Coordinator.
Max, who was May's younger brother and wanted to become a Pokemon Trainer.
Dawn, who was also trying to become a Coordinator and was one of Ash's best friends.
Cilan, a connoisseur who was also one of the Straiton City Gym Leaders.
And finally Iris, who wanted to become a Dragon type Pokemon Master.
"Wow, so many adventures you've had, and so many friends you have made." Clemont said.
"Yeah, if it weren't for my friends, supporting me through my ups and downs. I wouldn't even be here." Ash said.
"So, finally, Serena. Any stories you would like to share?" Ash asked.
"Well uh... I don't really have any stories to share." Serena said.
"Oh, that's a bummer." Bonnie said.
"Because right now." Serena said as she stood up. "Right now all four of us going after our dreams. I wouldn't have realize my dream of becoming Kalos Queen if it weren't for all of you. We treat each other like family, we help each other out when we're in need. And we will all never give up until the very end!" Serena said. "That is a story I would want to share.
Ash smiled at Serena's thoughtful speech and decided to stand up, raising the cup in his hand to say a toast. "To our dreams!" Ash said.
Clemont stood up as well. "To a great journey together!"
Bonnie stood up. "To have so many fun adventures!"
Finally, Serena raised her cup and said a final toast. "To an everlasting friendship!"
"HUZZAH!" Everyone yelled as they all tap cups and laugh into the night. Although his journey in the Kalos region was far from over. Ash had a feeling that this was going to be the best region he has travelled because of his three best friends by his side.
The best that he could ever ask for.
And that was my One-shot folks! I decided to take a break from Amourshipping fanfics and decided to write a story more about the friendship of the XY gang. Sorry if you were all expecting another chapter of Old Grudges, but I still haven't got around to writing that yet. Sorry! I promise that I'll have it done by next week. Until then folks, this is Ikcatcher signing off.