The Towers

"That's so cool, right Pikachu?!"

"Pika pi!"

I looked up from my map to those two, and giggled. He was so cute, the way that he carried himself everyday. Such a happy guy who was simply great with Pokemon, but still, a major klutz, though she did recall him extending his leg out like a ballerina once when he was synced with his Greninja.

"Serena! Isn't that tower just awesome?!", he yelled in my direction.

My eyes lingered on him a bit more as I replied, "It is, isn't it Ash? The tower's shape and form… it's just so… so… I can't really describe it!" I turned my head to the tower that he was talking about. It looked like a T, but walking around it gave the impression that it was changing shape. "Hey, where'd Clemont and Bonnie go?"

Those two siblings were such good people, though Bonnie was, for lack of a better word, a troll. She was the cutest thing: small, happy, a ball of contagious energy. Whenever she smiled, the entire vicinity noticed and began smiling too. I couldn't forget about Clemont either: a big heart, but a big-hearted klutz who had a penchant for exploding inventions.

I wouldn't give up these friends for the world.

But Ash, who was walking with me while we were trying to find Bonnie and Clemont, he was special. It was just a fleeting crush at first, a vestige of the first time I truly knew what the words "gentle, nice, inspiring, and courageous" were. We were only 6, but I still carry that memory with me everywhere.

As time went on, and we kept traveling together, I realised that there was more to Ash than I had previously thought: he was kind, yet stern; accepting, yet forceful; and of course, caring, yet dense. Everyone else noticed that I always acted a little strangely whenever I was with him; all those blushes every time he did something kind for me, the stuttering whenever Miette or Shauna almost told the world that I liked him, all those times, yet he's never noticed.

I walked faster to keep up with him, but I didn't notice that there was a small crack in the road ahead of me. "Ash! Slow down, you're going too fas- WHOA!", I yelled. The pavement started to get closer to me, and I closed my eyes, ready for that painful face plant in the concrete.

A gentle pair of arms caught me. I turned my head, and started to blush. It was Ash who caught me in this vulnerable pose. I've thought of an infinite number of situations just like this, where he'd be the knight in shining armour and I the lady who just so happened to be in need. But I wasn't prepared for the actual situation at hand, because in the back of my head, I never thought that this would happen.

"You okay, Serena?", he asked with obvious care and concern in his voice.

"A-Ash… uhm… thanks for catching me…" I couldn't properly say thanks, because I realised that my face was slowly becoming a red mass.

"Uh. Why are you blushing, Serena?" he curiously asked.

"I-it's nothing! Haha, it's nothing! Oh, I'm just so embarrassed that I tripped over, that's why! Haha…" I stammered out in an otherwise obvious attempt to cover up my true reason for blushing.

"What a gent! Clemont! I've got it! That's what you should do to a pretty girl if you're gonna get a wife!", a loud yet very familiar voice yelled.

"BONNIE! STOP!", another voice shrieked. "I DON'T NEED YOU TO GIVE ME ADVICE!"

"But at this rate, you're never going to find a girlfriend! Ash, I hope you can tell why Serena's really blushing!~~~~", Bonnie happily exclaimed.

"BONNIE!", I yelled in panic. "Ash! She doesn't know what she's talking about!"

"Yeah, I don't too. Why are you blushing?", Ash replied in his characteristic dense tone.

"IT'S NOTHING!"

Ash and Clemont looked at each other, then at the crowd that was starting to mass around us. "What's going on?", they both asked.