Stood in front of the mirror in her room, Serena examined her appearance intensely, looking for any faults at all. A strand of hair misplaced, anything on her clothes, on her face, anything at all.

She had cleaned her clothes herself, making sure they were spotless and neat before she even put them on. With her short hair, she had brushed it, over and over again until there wasn't a single knot present , and it was as straight and silky smooth as... Well, silk. When she ran her own fingers through it, she herself was beyond in love with the feeling she got from it, stroking it a few times before carrying on. It seemed to shine and reflect light. No make up, mostly because she didn't have any, but that wasn't stopping her from going out and buying some. The reason she didn't want to use make up was because she simply didn't want to hide her face behind those kinds of products. Anyway, she'd only have to put more on after a few hours, something which, despite her own femininity, she despised doing.

So there she was. She had done everything she could to look sufficiently cute and beautiful. Looking in the mirror, she had to admit, she wasn't usually a vain person, but she did actually look really good today. It was one of those few times a girl actually felt pretty. She had never been the type to doll herself up like this. Yes, she had been into fashion since she was young, but she never put a lot of effort into looking good in her regular attire. Yes, she liked to stay clean, but then again, exactly who enjoys walking around covered in dirt?

So, why was she so intent on looking good today?

The reason was simple. It was to try and get Ash's attention.

She felt her heart beat whenever she even heard or thought about the name. A small blush appeared on her face, and she uncontrollably gave a small smile. When she was younger, she had had these feelings too, but she had been unaware as to what they were back then, when she was so young and naïve to those emotions.

She had tried a lot of tactics to get him to at least notice her, but nothing seemed to work. She had battled, preformed, battled alongside him, helped him on his way, and that was just stuff any given friend would do. She had tried to hint at her feelings for him, occasionally nearly coming right out and saying it. She had tried to get his attention by battling hard, by training, following his example, but it never seemed to work. So, she was trying something new today. With any luck, she could charm him with her appearance today.

"Serena?" There was a flurry of light knocks on her door. Serena could identify by the knocking on the door that Bonnie was the one stood outside. "What's taking you so long? Clemont and Ash are waiting for you."

"Sorry, sorry!" Serena said, before grabbing ahold of the door knob, and opening it to allow Bonnie to enter the room.

Upon entering the room, and seeing Serena, Bonnie seemed to blush in awe, smile and widen her eyes, which then began to sparkle. "Wow, Serena! You look so pretty!"

Serena blushed lightly upon hearing the comment. "Thanks, Bonnie."

"You know, I bet Ash will defiantly notice how good you look today." Bonnie teased, giggling after she had finished her sentence, and at Serena's blushing, making her reasons for working on her looks for so long obvious.

"Shush, Bonnie!" Serena hissed, putting a finger on her lips, signalling 'quiet', paranoid of any passing onlookers. Bonnie herself had put the pieces together herself, which was smart and quite perceptive for a child her age. And ever since she had figured it out, Serena had had to tread lightly when around Ash, of fear that Bonnie would reveal anything.

"I'm only teasing you, Serena." Bonnie said with a giggle, before sitting on the bed Serena had just made. Serena let out a sigh in a combination of relief, annoyance and mild irritation. She loved Bonnie like she was the little sister she never had. But that was also part of the problem, In that Bonnie had also started acting like she actually was Serena's little sister, and that included all the downsides to having a younger sibling as well.

"Sorry." Bonnie said again, still smiling.

Serena decided to let it go, and went about straightening out her clothes again. "I'm not too sure what else to try. I've tried everything I can think of. So... I'm going to try and charm him." She blushed lightly, hiding it in her hair.

"You think that'll really work on Ash of all people?" Bonnie asked with a sly look on her face.

"For someone so young, you know way too much about romance and that sort of thing for my liking." Serena muttered. "I don't know." She said, louder. "He liked the performers during the showcases, didn't he?"

"He liked the performance and the Pokémon. I don't think he even looked at any of the performers themselves." Bonnie shrugged. "Not like my brother. He acts like he doesn't want me to find a wife for him. He plays dumb, but I've seen him looking at some girls. Maybe one of them would make a good wife for him."

Serena sweat dropped and smiled. "I doubt Clemont has marriage on the brain as much as you have."

Bonnie nodded. "But I think you might have it on the brain lately as well, don't you?"

"Shush!"

"Ha! Ha! Ha!"


Ash and Clemont had been handing out the breakfast for the Pokémon during this time. Their ever growing Pokémon family was getting more and more requirements in the means of food, making meal times a bit of a hassle sometimes.

Luckily, Ash's Goodra mainly ate leaves, which made getting Goodra's meals a lot easier. Ash had collected what had amounted to a small mountain of leaves, collected from the nearby trees and brush for Goodra's morning meal.

"That enough, Goodra?" Ash asked, dumping a pile of leaves in front of Goodra, adding to the pile, then taking a step back and sighing a sigh of exhaustion.

Goodra took a chomp into a leaf, smiling at its trainer, before, characteristically of its species, hugged Ash tightly.

"Woah, Goodra, take it easy, buddy! Relax man! You're gonna crush me here, c'mon, give it a rest!" Ash said while laughing, trying to push himself away from his powerful dragon type. Eventually he was able to separate from his affectionate Pokémon, but not before being covered in Goodra's slime. A slightly irritating side effect.

Ash retrieved a towel and began to wipe off the slime that Goodra has covered him in. "Yeuch. What do you thinks keeping Serena and Bonnie so long?" Ash asked, wiping slime from his face.

"I'm not sure..." Clemont sighed, craning his neck to look at the doorway to the sleeping rooms behind him. He was sat on the couch near Ash and the Pokémon, helping fill up dishes with Pokémon food. To his right there was a metallic ball of an invention that he had been working on all morning. Filling up another two dishes with Pokémon food, he reflected on what his sister had told him previously, about Serena trying to get Ash to notice her. Like Bonnie, he had noticed Serena's affection towards Ash, something he saw absolutely no issue with whatsoever, but he was beginning to worry if those affections, if unchecked, would affect Serena in a negative manner. He had noticed her actions as of late changing, presumably to try and gain Ash's attention. Treading lightly, while handing the dishes to Ash, he asked "Have you noticed anything... Different about Serena lately?"

Ash took the dishes and placed them in front of Fletchinder and Chespin. "Not... Really. Why, what do you mean, 'different'?"

"I'm not sure. A bit... Out of the ordinary, I guess."

"Why, have you noticed something up with her?" Ash asked.

"I don't know. Maybe I was just tired." Clemont finished, shrugging off the question, realising he wasn't going to get anywhere with this.

Ash sighed. The truth was, he had noticed. Serena had been acting less shy around him and more open, which was something he didn't mind at all. She seemed happier, which by extension, made him happy too. The deeper truth behind that was cease he liked her, a lot. The way she acted around him, how she treated him, how much he valued her as a person, all these things lead up to his development of feelings towards her. As time went on, he felt less inclined to help her because he felt she needed it, but more inclined to help her because he wanted to. He had faith in her abilities as a trainer and a performer, yet he always wanted to help her improve in any way he could. He wanted her to do well. Seeing her first performance fail, and see how upset she was hurt him too. But her symbol of resolve he saw the next day made his feelings for her only grow stronger, seeing her learn from defeat, and use it as fuel to get better - something he always tried to do. Seeing her as a person, he had grown to love her for that.

"Well, in any case, I hope she shows up soon. We've got to get back on the road soon." Ash said, taking two more dishes, the final two, and placing them for Braixen and Pikachu. His partner Pokémon let out a squeal of gratitude, to which Ash smiled at. He didn't want Serena to rush herself just so they could get back on the road. He simply wanted her to rush so he could see her.

One thing Ash had learnt to do well was hide how he felt. He was, as it turned out, quite good at pretending indifference. He didn't do it out of cruelty, to mess with Serena's emotions, which he felt he had inadvertently caused a few times, upon which he had felt immense guilt. Nor did he do it out of fear of rejection, as his main reason do this was that he never even thought about it. He would simply live with what happened. The reason he didn't tell her, why he feigned indifference to her romantically was because he saw how hard she worked on her performances with her Pokémon on a daily basis. The energy and passion she put in to every second of practice with her Pokémon, and some of the grand results that the fruits of their labour resulted in were simply stunning. Ash didn't want to interfere with this. He knew how much Serena's goal meant to her, how much time and energy she put into it. Even if she did like him, he wasn't sure he could bring himself to tell her, as it might distract her from her goal. He sometimes contemplated what he would do if Serena admitted she liked him first. Then it might be a different story. Only she knew if she could balance both her training for Pokémon performances and maintain a romantic relationship. He felt that if he said something first, it could throw her off her practice. Though sometimes depressing, he had accepted these facts to be true. He had considered telling her on several occasions, but to no real avail. Maybe he would tell her before he left Kalos. He mentally sighed. That was a long wait...

At that moment, Bonnie came running into the room, in a near sprint, narrowly missing bumping into Ash and jumping onto the couch, next to Clemont's invention. She had a big smile on her face, something Ash had learnt either meant Bonnie found another potential wife for her brother, or something special was about to happen, and she was the only one who knew about it.

"Bonnie, did you check on Serena like I asked?" Clemont asked his sibling, as he packed away the Pokémon food and the already used and washed equipment into his backpack.

"Uh huh, I did, Clemont!" Bonnie answered, stifling a giggle between her words, clearly excited about something.

"What're you so happy about?" Ash asked, an eyebrow quizzically raised at the younger sibling.

"Just wait 'till you see Serena!" Bonnie giggled, winking towards Ash.

Ash was confused at this. What the heck did that wink mean to start? And what was special about Serena today? Did Serena do something?

That question was about to be answered. The group heard Serena's footsteps coming from down the hall. Their Pokémon weren't too concerned, and kept about their business. But for Ash and Clemont, both intrigued by Bonnies choice of the Roding, kept an eye on the corridor she would have to walk out of. Bonnie, meanwhile, kept giggling, clearly imagining a variety of scenarios this could go down in.

"Morning everyone! Sorry I took a while."

There she was. Turning the corner, she had come into the view of the group. The change of appearance, though it was only minor cosmetic changes, were glaring and obvious. To begin, she looked clean, and while that was a given for everyone, she was clean in the personification of 'Cleanliness is next to Godliness". Her shorter hair was sparkling, reflecting in the sunlight, and her outfit seemed flashier, despite having no changes whatsoever. Her bow, the possession she held most dear to her heart, and as such, was located at her chest, has been washed, as it was brighter than before. The pervious night, Serena had washed it herself, without the use of the Pokémon centres washing machines, as she had done with her other clothing. She didn't trust it to not get damaged. She knew it was a silly thing, but the ribbon mean so much to her. It was her precious gift from Ash, and she held it so very dear. It contradicted the rest of her outfit, making it stand out more. Altogether, she looked, to put it simply, incredible.

To Ash, she looked very little different. He noticed her outfit and hair had undergone a severe cleaning, which while Ash admitted looked nice, didn't really do a thing for him.

As far as he was concerned, she was regular old Serena.

"Wow Serena, you've really outdone yourself today." Clemont said, complimenting her appearance. While normally Clemont wouldn't say things such as that, he had made an exception for this. He could clearly see that Serena had put a lot of effort into looking her best today. That aside, she had done a damn good job at it too.

"Uh huh! You look really pretty, Serena!" Bonnie nodded in agreement. She then turned to Ash, smiling, "Don't you think so too, Ash?"

Ash scanned Serena. To him, she didn't look any different. It was obvious that she had straightened herself out, but he couldn't really tell a tangible difference in her appearance. But her didn't have it in him to tell Serena that. Instead,meh replied, "Yeah, she looks fine to me."

With that begin said, the group discussed it's next move. Clemont pointed out a route, and the group had agreed on it. Their Pokémon returned to their Pokéballs, and their equipment packed away, the group began to set out.

But for Serena, it was a depressing walk. She felt defeated, and the thought depressed her. Her plan hadn't worked in the slightest. And now, she was all out of ideas.


Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand there we go : D little late, but shut up, it's fine. This is basically going to be a short side project I have in the works while I work on 'One Day Off' as a main priority. Let me know what you think about this idea, and this story in general. I hope you enjoyed, and as always, I'll see you in the next chapter. See ya!