Serena stopped at a viewpoint on the mountaintop, taking a moment to stop and absorb some of the sheer beauty of Kalos. It was so much more than what she could've ever dreamed from looking out of her bedroom window. It was a typically warm, sunny summer's day, perfect weather for a perfect occasion, she decided to herself.
"What's up?" Asked Ash, who momentarily left Clemont and Bonnie to check on her.
Serena sighed, blushing slightly. "Just...thinking," she murmured.
"About what?" He asked, completely oblivious to what she really meant by that statement.
Typical Ash.
"Oh, nothing," she responded. Deep down, she was kicking herself over what she had said. She had spent countless days preparing for this, the day she would finally get the chance to confess her feelings towards Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town, and now it was all about to go begging again.
Ash studied her face for a second. "Well then, I guess we better be heading off to the next gym," he replied, gradually turning back to join the rest of the gang. "You coming Serena?"
No. She couldn't. Not until she told him.
"Wait! Ash!" She called out, trusting her heart, despite every other muscle in her body resisting.
"Huh?" Ash answered, still as dense as ever. "What is it?"
Pikachu hopped off Ash's shoulder and over to Bonnie and Clemont, wanting to get away from the tension between the two of them.
"Ash, I..."
As she tried to form the words in her mouth, her tongue seemed to freeze, and her mouth snapped itself shut.
No.
She was losing it again.
How could she? After all the time she had spent practising, getting every syllable flowing into the next perfectly.
And yet, here she was, just like the time when Ash lost to Viola in Santalune City, and he ran straight past her when she tried to talk to him, or when she finally asked him about that summer camp in Pallet, all those years ago, and he didn't remember her at all.
"Nevermind." She sighed in defeat. "Let's go."
Ugh, I would rather go back home to practise rhyhorn racing with mum than feel what I feel right now, she groaned to herself.
The group walked on in silence. Ash was walking quickly with his hands in his pockets, and his head running at a million miles an hour, while Serena's shoulders were slumped, and her head hung low. Her eyes were fixed on the ground as it passed under her feet, and her hat covered up her face as the pain started to show through, complete with the beginnings of a tear pricking at her eye.
Clemont, Pikachu, and even young Bonnie could tell something was up between the two of them.
"Ash," started Clemont, looking between the two of them in confusion, "is everything okay?"
"Pika," murmured Pikachu, looking up at his partner in concerned agreement as he rode on his shoulder.
"Fine," muttered Ash. "I'm just...really confused..."
"I see," responded Clemont.
Serena growled. I can't take this anymore! Does he think I want to do that to him? Does he think I want to give him mixed signals like that?
"WELL I'M SORRY I CAN'T HELP IT THAT I'VE HAD A CRUSH ON YOU SINCE THE DAY WE MET AT THAT CAMP!" She screeched "I'M SORRY I GET NERVOUS WHENEVER I TRY TO TELL YOU HONESTLY HOW I FEEL! I'M SORRY THAT I CONFUSE YOU LIKE THIS! I'M SORRY THAT YOU CAN'T BE ANY MORE OBLIVIOUS TO ME THAN YOU ARE NOW! The thing is...Ash...I kind of..." Her voice trailed off as she came to the sudden realisation of what she was saying. The others stared at her blankly in shock.
Serena was hit with a wave of anxiety, like a hydro pump from a gyarados.
"Oh Arceus!" She cried, putting her hat back over her face to cover the tears that were now flowing freely. "I'm so sorry Ash!"
And with that, she turned and ran.
"Wait! Serena!" Called Ash.
"Pika!" Cried Pikachu.
But before the words could even reach her, she had disappeared behind a row of trees.
Serena didn't care where she went, as long as it was as far away from the rest of them as possible.
She wiped the tears from her eyes as she ran blindly into the depths of the forest. How could I snap at Ash like that? She thought to herself. How could I be so stupid, so impossibly clumsy, as to tell him like that?
She stopped only when her legs couldn't possibly carry her any further, slumping to meet the soft grass beneath her.
She used the last of her strength to take out her pokèball and let out Fennekin, who didn't have to be a genius to see that Serena was deeply unhappy.
"Fenn," she murmured softly, nuzzling her soft, warm body under Serena's chin, trying her best to comfort her.
"Fenn?" She asked again, looking around to find that Ash and the others had disappeared.
"I'm sorry Fennekin," she sobbed. "I don't know if we'll get to-"
She was cut off by a deep, menacing growl behind her, as a shadow began to tower over her slumped, defeated form.
She stopped crying and turned over in fear, to find a huge rhydon glaring over what it most likely hoped would be its next meal.
Serena crawled back slowly in fear, screaming at the top of her lungs as the giant drill pokemon sized up its prey.
Meanwhile, Ash, Pikachu, Clemont and Bonnie stood beside themselves awkwardly, barely moving since Serena had bolted.
"What do we do now?" Asked Bonnie after several minutes.
Pikachu stood up on Ash's shoulder, sensing that something was happening. "Pika!" He cried.
It was at this point that they heard a faint scream in the distance.
"I think that's Serena!" Exclaimed Ash. "Quick! We'd better hurry!"
Ash and Bonnie turned on their heels and raced into the forest, chasing the screams, while Clemont struggled to keep up.
Ash felt terrible as he ran. He knew all of this was his fault, if only he'd kept his giant mouth shut, then Serena wouldn't have snapped the way she did, and she wouldn't be in danger now.
Then again, this was Ash Ketchum we were talking about...
But then, what she said got him thinking too. Why didn't he notice it earlier? Why was he always so...so impossibly stupid when it came to love? He'd spent that much time around Brock over the years that he should've picked up every trick in the book by now!
His thoughts were interrupted by another scream, bringing his mind back to saving Serena.
Serena huddled her body in as tightly as she could, trying to defend herself from the rhydon as it charged at her. All of a sudden a burst of water broke through the trees and hit it head-on, the super-effective hit knocking it to the ground.
Serena looked up to see a rather familiar-looking froakie rushing onto the scene, closely followed by Bonnie and her knight in shining armour, Ash.
She gasped, running up to hug him. "You came back for me!" She cried, tears flowing again as she buried her face in his shoulder.
Ash stood there silently, holding her tight in his arms for what felt like an eternity to Bonnie, but not long enough for Serena and himself. Ash had felt it for a while, but up until now he was scared she wouldn't feel the same way, and instead he ran away from it. It was the same with May, and the same when he was travelling with Misty, but, now that he knew, now that he was certain that he wouldn't be rejected, he didn't feel the need to hide from what he felt, he could welcome it in with open arms.
When Serena's tears eventually stopped, Ash pulled away slightly, so he could look into her ocean blue eyes. Serena practically melted under his gaze, her cheeks turning a bright crimson.
"You might need this." Ash smiled softly, handing her a blue handkerchief, the same one she had returned to him when they first met again in Santalune City. The one that Ash wrapped aound her injured knee at Professor Oak's summer camp to try and take the pain away, and while back then it might not have worked, that was the thing she had come to love most about Ash: as unimaginably dumb as he could be, he had a heart of gold, and a burning passion in his soul, not to mention he was still adorable as hell, even after all these years.
Serena took it and wiped the dirt and tears off her face, barely eeking out a thankyou through the feeling that her entire body could melt in front of him at any moment, combined with the way her throat had dried out from the crying she had done earlier.
"About before..." Ash began.
"Oh...right," responded Serena, using her hat to cover how badly she was blushing again.
"Bonnie, you might want to look away," warned Ash. Serena was confused for a second, before Ash took her hat and turned it between them and Bonnie, as he slowly, nervously, leaned in to kiss her.
The world stopped around Serena at that moment, the trees and bushes around her, the sounds of the pokèmon in the forest, the fresh scent of the lush greenery, the tiredness she felt, it all seemed to disappear. All she could comprehend for those few seconds was the feeling of their lips together and the butterfrees in her stomach, sending shock waves of electricity through her, and making the very core of her bones tremble.
"Serena! Are you okay?" Called Clemont as he burst into the clearing as well.
"Oh, I think she's fine now," teased Bonnie.
Serena rested her body on Ash in his arms as they kissed, and even once their lips had parted, she nuzzled her head into his collarbone, closing her eyes in content. After what had happened in the last hour, she was exhausted!
"C'mon," said Ash softly after a long silence, "let's get to a pokèmon centre for the night."
"Okay," murmured Serena as the two of them joined Clemont, Bonnie, Fennekin and Pikachu, not taking a single step for the rest of the walk without their hands intertwined.
(Originally posted on Wattpad by me December 2013)