Words in italics indicate the inner thoughts of Ash.
Ash's POV.
It would be a comical understatement to say that the situation Ash Ketchum currently found himself in was difficult. Giving up his Goodra so that the dragon-type pokémon could live with his friends in the wetlands had to be one of the most painful things he had done on his long journey, even though he did it for all the right reasons. The Kanto native could only remember feeling this sense of loss whenever he felt it was in the best interests of his pokémon to part ways with him, as separating with his human companions and leaving pokémon with professor Oak always seemed to carry the unshakeable feeling that Ash would definitely see the friends he was leaving behind for now again someday. Releasing a pokémon like Goodra was different. Ash knew the chances of him seeing Goodra again once he had finished his business in the Kalos region were slim at best. While the decision tore him up inside and he really wanted to continue travelling with his arguably most powerful partner aside from Pikachu, Ash was still confident in his decision, despite the personal consequences. But he had been through this sort of thing before, and these emotions, while painful, were not new to him.
Goodra... why can't I forget about you?
What really bothered the aspiring pokémon master was that the feeling hadn't disappeared. He was usually able to move on rather quickly after giving up a pokémon, the rigors of the road and the next challenge ahead never failing to give Ash the encouragement he needed to perk up and return to his usual self. Now, several days after Goodra's departure and deep into the route that led to Laverre City from Lumiose City, Ash was still unable to feel his normal, jubilant self. Even worse, his travelling companions were starting to get worried about him. Bonnie had stopped pestering Ash to let him play with or brush his pokémon, instead simply taking care of any chores he forgot to do when they set up and took down camp, Clemont was trying to build a machine that he had overheard him claiming to Serena would make even the most depressed person jolly again, and Serena had the rather strange reaction of avoiding him entirely. It wasn't that she didn't talk to him if he approached her, but she had stopped asking his opinion of things and seemed nervous to interact with him ever since it became obvious that he wasn't quickly getting over the release of Goodra. This cold shoulder treatment was almost upsetting Ash more than losing Goodra, as in his opinion having a friend distance themselves on purpose was worse than giving up a pokémon for the benefit of the pokémon.
I suppose that I partially have myself to blame. I haven't been very approachable.
The thought was highlighted by Ash currently lagging behind his friends while Serena, Bonnie and even Clemont were outpacing him, talking and joking pleasantly while Ash had his hands shoved in his pockets, his head down and his thoughts restricted to his mind. Even Pikachu, albeit after Ash had asked it to so he wasn't bringing his closest partner down, was with the others, sitting in Serena's arms and chatting via electricity with Dedenne.
Why can't I get over this? What is it with me and loss all of a sudden? Goodra was close to me, just like my other pokémon, but, well... he wasn't Pikachu, or Charizard, or Serena... What? Again?
The sudden interruption of Serena into Ash's thoughts was becoming more and more common as the trainer was contemplating the issue.
Man, why does she keep popping into my head? Maybe there's some connection between her and Goodra that I don't understand. Hmm... they're both from Kalos? So is everyone around me but Pikachu... I have to get out of this funk. How does Clemont do this thinking thing on such a constant basis? Science is so amazing...
Ash continued the cycle as he had been since losing Goodra for another few hours, feeling bad about Goodra, suddenly thinking about Serena, telling himself to snap out of it, failing, wash, rinse, repeat. The sun had begun to set in the sky, and Clemont had found the group a suitable clearing make their campsite, away from the main route so they wouldn't bother or be bothered by anybody. He was the first to address Ash since lunch, waving him over to help set up the boys tent.
"Hey, Ash, would you mind helping me with this thing?"
"Yeah, sure Clemont." Ash's response carried the same air of sadness his countenance displayed. Clemont sighed to himself and faced Ash directly as they worked on the tent.
"Ash, are you feeling okay? You know you can talk to us if you want to-"
Ash quickly finished working on his side of the tent at an unprecedented speed as Clemont spoke, interrupting him as soon as he finished his task. "Clemont, I'm going out to do a little training before dinner is ready. I won't be far, so just give me a shout when it's time to eat, okay?" he asked.
It wasn't as if Ash squeezing some training in before dinner was unnatural, but the way he went about announcing it told Clemont that Ash was very much still struggling, and for the life of him he couldn't figure out how to get through to the boy to open up so his scientific knowledge could aid in easing the pain he was feeling. Ash stood and began to walk off through some trees towards another clearing the group had passed earlier, something the aspiring pokémon master's battle-conscious mind had identified as ideal training territory despite the boy himself being lost in his own thoughts. He could feel the gazes of his friends burning into him as he made his exit, but he didn't dare turn to face them, to fess up his emotions and break down the pain he felt to them despite a portion of his brain begging him to do so.
I can't talk to them about it until I understand how I feel myself. They'd freak out if I broke down in front of them anyways. I don't want Serena and the others to have to see me like this... There it is again!
Ash sighed to himself as his thoughts brought Serena to his mind for seemingly no reason again. He reached the clearing and found the cognition to release his Frogadier, Fletchinder, and Hawlucha. Pikachu appeared by his side, a little miffed that his trainer had walked off to train without him. Ash quickly realized his mistake and apologized, "Oh... sorry, Pikachu. My mind was elsewhere."
Pikachu conveyed a sarcastic look of "No, really?" to Ash before taking his place on one side of the field. Ash managed to tear his thoughts away from his troubles to focus on the task at hand. "Okay, so... let's practice some double battle tactics. Frogadier, you team up with Pikachu and battle Hawlucha and Fletchinder. Work on trying to cover for each others weaknesses."
The pokémon all looked eager to participate in some real battling after doing nothing for over a day, and faced off in their respective pairs in ready positions.
Ash raised his hands in the air like he was about to start a race. "I'll be refereeing and giving out advice. Remember, you all have weaknesses to cover for your partner. Go for it!" He threw his hands down.
With that, the four pokémon jumped into action, exchanging blows with each other while dodging the more powerful attacks. Frogadier was having a speed showdown with Fletchinder, the bird trying to get its speed up enough with flame charge to successfully out-speed the frog, which was having problems connecting with an aerial target despite the speed advantage, while Pikachu was trying to land a hit on Hawlucha, who was still working on learning to dodge attacks instead of just taking them head on, with measurable success. Ash was proud of his pokémon. They fought on a whole different level compared to what he had seen from many of his previous teams. He felt that he had a really good chance at the league this time if he kept his companions up to speed with training. All he needed was two good pokémon to round out his team, a strong pokémon that could tank attacks as opposed to simply dodging and firing back when possible like the rest of his battlers. He needed a pokémon like...
Goodra.
The name slammed into his mind and Ash lost his focus on instructing Hawlucha on how to best avoid Pikachu's thunderbolt attack, causing the flying type to be shocked by a very powerful electric mouse and wave its arms angrily at its trainer. Ash realized his mistake and sheepishly apologized, in his embarrassment and guilt not noticing Frogadier get the upper hand on Fletchinder and send it to the ground with a quick double team and cut combo. He quickly shifted his apologies to Fletchinder before muttering congratulations to Pikachu and Frogadier, ending the match. He rushed to his injured flying types, thankfully finding that they were basically okay, Frogadier and Pikachu holding back their full power for the practice battle. He gave all his partners some oran berries and mentally began to kick himself.
This can't continue. I'm going to get myself or someone else hurt. I have to take action on this problem. Maybe I do need to-
"Ash?" a small voice rang out to shatter the silence that had formed in the wake of the mistake Ash had made.
The boy turned to see Bonnie meekly approaching from the direction of the groups campsite. The girl seemed reluctant to voice anything to Ash after she had probably witnessed the training mishap. "Bonnie? What's up? Is dinner ready?"
The small lemon-haired girl nodded. "Yeah, it's ready, but... Ash? Can I talk to you? It's kind of... important."
Ash saw where this was going and was ready to brush the girl off, but he remembered his own thoughts and was melted by the pleading look in the child's eyes, compelled by the desire to try and find an end to the woe he was bringing their travelling party. "You know what? Yeah. I want to talk anyways. Pikachu, everyone. You all go ahead, have Clemont look at you in case I missed an injury. Bonnie and I will catch up."
Ash's pokémon, recovering from their minor hiccup, obliged and scurried off as Bonnie quickly walked up to Ash and sat across from him before he could change his mind. She clearly hadn't expected Ash to actually be willing to open up to her and seemed a bit frazzled, unsure of how to continue. Ash noticed this and took a deep breath, deciding to initiate the conversation himself. "Bonnie, do you ever start thinking about something, only to realize you were actually thinking about something else for no reason?"
Bonnie tilted her head in complete confusion. "Are you trying to say you can't stop thinking about Goodra? Or is this something else?"
Ash realized he needed to get to the point or he wouldn't be getting anywhere. "See, here's the problem, Bonnie. In the very rare event that I have to release a pokémon like this... it usually doesn't, well, hurt for this long. You know me, always rushing ahead into the next thing, no time to be sad. And now, I can't seem to stop mourning over Goodra, and whenever I think about Goodra, I keep thinking about someone else, and it sort of stops me from feeling happy I guess. I don't really get it. Does this make any sense?"
Bonnie was frowning for Ash's entire statement, but her eyes flashed briefly with the light of potential realization when Ash mentioned that he was thinking of someone. "Well, Ash, have you talked to this someone about you problem?"
Ash immediately shook his head. "No way. She'll just think it's her fault and I'll have made this more difficult for her than I have for everyone already."
Bonnie's frown completed its inversion as she confirmed who Ash was thinking of, and her course became brilliantly clear. "Ash, you really need to talk to Serena about this."
Ash did a double take. "H-how did you-" was all he managed to stutter out while Bonnie simply smiled understandingly, the way a mother smiles to comfort her child.
"I think your problem doesn't really have to do with Goodra, at least not anymore. We all had our time to come to terms with the way things turned out, but it hit you and Dedenne the hardest. Dedenne started feeling better after I comforted it for a while though, and at first I thought you were taking the longest because Goodra was yours, but... now I'm sure I know what the problem really is." Bonnie was acting far wiser than her years should allow her, displaying how, much in the way Clemont was a genius with machines, Bonnie was always quick to understand the heart and mind.
Ash, however, was getting frustrated at the teasing he was getting of an answer. "So what's the problem I have Bonnie? I want to get back to normal."
Bonnie stifled a giggle. "The fact that you want to get back to normal and still can't just tells me you need to talk to Serena about this."
Ash sighed in exasperation. "Are you sure that it won't make things worse? I wouldn't be able to handle making her feel worse than I already am. She won't even talk to me anymore."
Bonnie enthusiastically nodded. "Definitely. You both need to talk. She's avoiding you because she's worried she might do something wrong to make you feel worse, and you won't talk to her because you don't want to make things worse for her. This is a stalemate that needs to be broken."
Ash hated to admit it, but if what Bonnie was claiming about his close companion was true, then she was right. If he didn't clear the air with Serena, and the whole group by extension, nothing would change, and, according to Bonnie, he wouldn't be able to move on from this mental trap Goodra's departure had caught him in. It was just his friend. Simple conversation was nothing to be worried about.
So why am I so nervous?
"I...suppose I can ask her about this after dinner. What do I even say?"
Bonnie sighed overdramatically. "Exactly what you said to me, silly! I can promise that this will clear up any sort of doubt you have about Goodra and especially Serena. She'll know exactly what your problem is."
Ash was still confused and worried about talking to Serena about his troubles, but the promise of an answer was too enticing for him to turn down at this point, not to mention his stomach was reminding him that he should have started eating about 10 minutes ago with a low rumble. "Fine, Bonnie, you win. I'll talk to Serena tonight, I that's what it takes to fins an answer to my problem."
Bonnie stood and jumped up and down in jubilation. "Yay! Finally! It's finally happening!"
Dedenne poked its small head out of its bag in irritation at the sudden jostling it was receiving, and Bonnie quickly began to babble to her pokémon about how "it" was happening. Ash was confused at the outburst, but he wrote it off as Bonnie being happy about finally getting the Ash she knew back. He suddenly realized that just deciding to do something about his problem had made him feel five times better, and he was able to give a genuine smile to Bonnie as he stood up.
"Ok, Bonnie, let's go get some grub. And thank you for your help. I kinda feel better just talking about it." Bonnie was absolutely giddy at this point.
"Of course, Ash! Bonnie is always here to save the day! Let's eat!" The two companions made their way back to the campsite, bringing pleasant surprise to the faces of Serena and Clemont as they saw that Ash was actually smiling. Clemont was the first to act on the sudden mood change after everyone sat down to eat.
"So... Ash, are you feeling any better?" Ash looked up from absolutely devouring his food and contemplated his response.
Am I feeling any better? Well, yeah. Not like I can explain why, though. Not without making things extremely difficult for Serena. I should just be frank with him.
"I...guess so. Bonnie gave me some advice that helped, I think." Ash became a bit flustered when he saw Bonnie smile a cheeky smile and shift her gaze quickly between Ash and Serena, the implications obvious to him.
What is wrong with me? Since when have I had a problem with communication? Ugh, I don't need this right now. I can clear everything up as long as I talk to Serena after dinner.
"I'm just not ready to discuss Goodra openly, okay? I'll be fine though, really."
Clemont frowned. "Then nothing has changed. You should really communicate with all of us about this, Ash. Clearly talking with Bonnie helped. If anyone understands how you feel, then I would wager that I would."
Ash was getting ready to deny Clemont as politely as possible, but his final statement both intrigued the trainer and made him suspicious at the same time, causing Ash to bite on Clemont's bet despite his misgivings and Bonnie's frantic signaling to shut her brother down, which earned her a hilariously strange look from Serena. "What makes you say that, Clemont?" he asked, allowing the suspicion in his tone to be noticeable.
Clemont didn't heed the warning and looked up at the evening sky, smiling a sad, nostalgic smile. "Well, I'm sure you remember I had to leave my heliolisk, magnemite and magneton with the gym and Clembot so that challengers would have something to challenge when they take on my gym. It wasn't easy, having them stay behind when I started travelling with you, especially in the beginning when I knew Clembot was still malfunctioning. There isn't a day that passes where I don't think about how they're doing, or if they're okay on their own without me there to lead them, but I know that eventually I'm going to see them again. It's not too different from you and Goodra, really. I can almost scientifically guarantee-"
Ash suddenly shot up from his seat and, to put it quite simply, lost control of himself and yelled directly at Clemont, "This isn't anything like that, Clemont! I have no reason to believe I'll ever see Goodra again!" He didn't even realize how frustrated the inventor's words were making him until he had blurted out the exclamation, but now that he had, his thoughts felt truly clear for the first time since Goodra had left.
Clemont doesn't understand at all! He's just describing my situation with my pokémon at the professor's lab! What does he know about losing someone forever? How can he not realize that this could happen to anyone here? I can't believe he's trivializing my situation like this!
Ash took a deep breath and calmed down enough to really look at his companions, surprised Bonnie hadn't chipped in at least to berate Clemont for saying something so blatantly wrong. What he saw instead was two people staring at him in disbelief, Clemont with obvious hurt in his eyes and Bonnie with a little fear. Serena, however, was returning the same intense gaze he had delivered to Clemont when he spoke, as if she was daring him to attack her verbally instead of Clemont. Ash actually shifted back a half-step as Serena slowly rose and pointed one of her delicate fingers at Ash's face from across the table.
"You need to cool off. Leave and come back when you can talk to us with the respect we deserve for trying to help you." Serena's tone was cold, and Ash could tell she was working very hard to hold back her emotions and mostly succeeding.
The boy began to realize the mistake he had made in yelling at his friend, and quickly decided to make an exit rather than risk messing things up any further. He walked away from the group's campsite, the sounds of Serena and Clemont conversing about something he was now too far away to hear clearly reaching his ears faintly as he disappeared from their views into the trees. The scampering of tiny paws reached his ears next, and he turned back to see that Pikachu was following him. Ash was sick of being forced to turn his friends away and gladly accepted his closest pokémon partner's companionship as he made his way through the forest into another small clearing with a single large tree growing out of the middle. He figured this was far enough and sat down against the tree, Pikachu hopping onto his head.
"Hey, Pikachu. Are you mad at me?" Pikachu jumped down from Ash's head and seemed to deeply contemplate the question, to the point where Ash was convinced the yellow mouse was keeping him in suspense on purpose. Finally Pikachu nodded and jumped into Ash's lap, affectionately rubbing his head into his trainer. Ash found himself smiling and began to gently stroke his first pokémon.
"Thanks, Pikachu. I know I can always count on you." As soon as he let his guard down with that statement, Pikachu let out a nasty shock that coursed painfully through Ash's body. Ash slumped to the ground and groaned, the electric type mouse unmoving from his position.
"Okay...I guess I deserved that." Pikachu nodded from its position as Ash struggled back into his seat against the tree and smiled to himself, knowing that Pikachu had actually forgiven him now. With one hurdle overcome, Ash again took up residence in his thoughts while absentmindedly petting Pikachu.
I shouldn't have yelled at Clemont like that. I need to apologize as soon as I see him again and try to explain myself. I guess I should have listened to Bonnie and talked to Serena first... Speaking of which, what was up with her copying my outburst? It must be my fault. She's usually so kind, sweet, cute, and here I go again.
Ash was getting better at predicting when Serena would throw his thought process off track after it had started happening so often, but it didn't make the event any less confusing or impeding to his cognition. The pokémon master in training could feel himself slipping back into his vicious cycle with the excitement of dinner ebbing away, and, keeping his mistakes in mind, resigned himself to this fate until he felt he could safely approach Serena and make this right once and for all.
Ash didn't know how much time had passed before someone came for him, but the sun was almost gone from the sky, casting only a faint line of lavender on the horizon as the brilliant full moon began to take the place of its daytime counterpart. He didn't look up when he heard someone approaching, instead waiting for the intruding party to make the first move. There was an uncomfortable pause where Ash was extremely tempted to break his own conviction.
"I'm sorry." Ash's gaze shot up as he realized that he had spoken at the same time as his visitor. Clemont looked just as surprised as Ash was, but with a much more relieved accompaniment to his countenance than the last shock Ash had delivered him that evening. Both boys realized what happened and Clemont gave Ash a small smile.
"I guess we both needed to say that to each other, huh?" Clemont offered a hand to his friend.
Ash nudged his partner awake from his slumber on Ash's lap and stood with Clemont's help as Pikachu yawned adorably before jumping onto his trainer's shoulder. "Yeah, we did. I'm sorry for snapping at you. It was wrong and rude and... there's no excuse for what I said." Ash was having a difficult time getting his words out, admitting his personal faults never really striking him as an important necessity for becoming a great battler.
Clemont simply shook his head. "You had every reason to snap at me. I've been pushing you and pushing you to try and force you to feel better. In retrospect, I'm surprised you didn't snap at me sooner. My story was...unaligned with your current problem. I understand my mistake now, thanks to the girls, and I can't apologize enough for my egregious behavior. I just...want to have my friends back together."
Seeing Clemont showing so much emotion was a bit disjointing to Ash, but he had dealt with far stranger things over the past hour, and he stepped forward, placing a reassuring hand on Clemont's shoulder. "Believe me, man, I understand. You were only trying to help. All this proves is that we both have a lot to learn when it comes to talking to people. We're always friends, no matter what, so don't ever doubt that. Bonnie told me that I have to talk to Serena about this if I want to fix things anyways."
Clemont didn't comment on that particular piece of news, but Ash could swear he saw the smallest of smirks briefly grace the inventor's face, only for it to quickly vanish into an ambiguous smile once again. "Alright then, Ash. I'll let you sort this out your way. But I want you to know that I'm here for you if you need me for anything, even if I don't really understand what you're going through."
Ash let go of the gym leader and his eyes flashed with excitement as he suddenly remembered something. "Actually, Clemont, I was wondering. I heard you mentioning that you were working on some invention for happiness-"
Clemont quickly cut Ash off, nonchalantly stating, "Oh, that? That's for something else entirely. Sadly, emotions like these can't simply be fixed by a machine, as much as I would prefer the opposite."
This response didn't make any sense to the Kanto native, but he shoved it aside for now, reluctant to put any other concerns on his plate other than his current problem. "Okay then... should we head back? I think it's time we all got some sleep."
Clemont tilted his head in confusion. "I thought you wanted to talk to Serena though."
Ash nodded. "I do. But I think that after what just happened, we all need to sleep the day's events off. I'll just apologize to them tonight, and we'll chat first thing in the morning."
This seemed to placate Clemont, and the two friends exchanged a smile before heading back to the camp. When the duo returned with Pikachu in tow, they found Serena and Bonnie standing near the girl's tent, the campsite cleaned up and the two clearly in some sort of intense discussion. Serena noticed Ash first, and quickly silenced Bonnie's mouth with her hand, much to the confusion of the guys and enragement of the young girl until she saw that their companions had returned, leading her to quiet down her protests immediately.
Ash approached a little awkwardly. "Do you two... need a minute or something?" he tentatively asked, to which Serena gave an unconvincing smile and blushed while waving her hands in front of her. "No no, we're fine here! Um, how are you? Did you and Clemont make up?"
Clemont moved to stand beside Ash and nodded along with his friend as Ash answered. "We did. I made a mistake, and I needed to apologize to both him and you two for it, so I'm sorry. I...was wrong to lash out, even given the circumstances."
Serena let out a breath of relief and gave Ash a warm smile. "That's good. I forgive you, and I'm sorry I snapped at you, I just couldn't... think of another way to get your attention."
Bonnie mimed a similar acceptance of apology while Ash suddenly frowned at Serena's apology. "Don't apologize, Serena, you did exactly what you needed to."
Not like she could ever make me mad at her. Dang it, brain!
"I think it's a good idea for us all to go to bed. We've had a rough evening." Ash quickly continued to cut off Bonnie as she started to pipe up again to point out the elephant in the room. "And Serena, do you mind if we talk first thing in the morning? before we have to head out, that is." Serena had looked almost relieved when Ash had made the decision for the group to slumber, but her familiar blush quickly returned when Ash directed a question at her.
"Um, sure, no problem! I'll get up early then. Goodnight!" The performer almost sprinted into her tent. Bonnie's gaze flitted between her tent and Ash and back again before she sighed in resignation and moved to follow Serena, muttering a half-hearted goodnight over her shoulder. Clemont and Ash exchanged a confused glance, but were unwilling to discuss the girl's strange behavior when things had only just cleared up between them. Ash said goodnight to Clemont after he got changed into his sleeping outfit privately and returned his other pokémon, now fully restored thanks to Clemont, slipping into his sleeping bag in the boy's tent and allowing the sweet embrace of the unconscious overtake his body and rescue him from his troubled emotions and reality...
... a beautiful dream which Ash so badly wanted to have happen for him. Truthfully, Ash was only able to rest in short, fitful intervals, his few moments of sleep plagued by nightmares of Goodra leaving with the feeling that Serena was there, although Ash never actually saw her. He always woke up gasping, and found himself questioning if he had lost Serena somehow, if she and his friends had all vanished, just like Goodra, only to see the outline of Clemont and Pikachu's slumbering forms and force calmness back into his system. By the fifth time this happened, Ash was sick of allowing these nightmares to viciously assault him every time his eyelids shut, and he decided to go for a walk to let the natural air clean out and refresh his mind.
This isn't good. If I don't sleep, it's going to make things worse in the morning, but I can't sleep because of Goodra. I should have talked to Serena earlier. Oh well. I can't wake her up now.
Ash stood as quietly as possible and slipped his shoes on before stepping out of the tent, careful not to wake Clemont or disturb the girls in the adjacent tent. Pikachu, however, was a completely different story. The moon, having risen to almost its full height in the sky, perfectly illuminated Pikachu as it padded out of the boys tent, easily woken up thanks to its stronger sense of hearing and groggily looking at its trainer to ask why he had decided to go exploring at such an inconvenient hour. Ash looked down on his partner, realizing that it wouldn't listen if he told it to just go back to sleep without explanation, instead opting for a mutually beneficial solution. He began to whisper quietly to the mouse.
"Pikachu, I'm going for a walk to clear my head. Can you stay out here and send anyone back to sleep if I woke them up? I don't need them worrying about me."
Pikachu looked concerned. "Pika pika, pikachu pika," it exclaimed, waving its stubby arms around to mime the violent dangers hiding around every corner of the night.
Ash smiled and patted his friend on the head. "Don't worry, buddy, I'm bringing my poké balls with me, and I'm just going to the tree clearing where we talked to Clemont. Can I trust you with this? I promise I won't be gone long."
Pikachu still didn't seem completely satisfied with the turn of events, but gave his trainer a determined nod. "Pi, pikachu."
Ash gave his starter a grateful nod. "Thanks, buddy. I knew I could count on you." Ash walked away from camp for the third time since they arrived, albeit this time by his own decision. When he reached the tree clearing, he found himself admiring the simple beauty of the nature around him.
The tree in the center of the clearing luminescent thanks to the starlight, as if each star in the sky was an additional leaf glowing on the tree itself, stretching out into infinity as constellations danced around, forming and shattering in ever-shifting patterns as the massive, dark tree trunk at the base encapsulated the beauty of every star and held it up, just for Ash to see. He slowly approached the massive pillar of nature with far more reverence than he had shown it earlier, placing his hand on the trunk as he looked around him.
I bet Goodra can see the same sky right now. I hope he's okay.
Even as he worried, Ash knew that Goodra was fine. He had raised a strong pokémon that was capable of handling itself anywhere. He also knew that no amount of reassuring or worrying was going to shift his mindset to something else. He had tried thinking of just about everything else there was to take his mind off of Goodra and his sadness, but nothing held his attention long enough.
I haven't tried thinking about Serena. But why would I? She shows up without me even trying.
Ash suddenly realized his hand was freezing, and he ended his connection to the tree, rubbing his hand to warm it up again.
What is wrong with this tree? It's like an... ice tree. Yeah, because that exists. It wasn't this cold earlier...
Ash stared at the tree for another minute before shrugging and sitting against the tree anyways, his back tingling at the chilly touch of the trunk, but not with enough bite to warrant him finding a new spot.
You know what? You win, mind. Let's think about Serena. Here we go. Serena is my close friend. I met her before any of my other travelling companions, well, ever in the Kanto region, when I helped her out after she hurt her knee. I met her again here in the Kalos region, although I didn't remember her at first. She's a very nice girl who makes amazing Pokepuffs and wants to take the title of Kalos queen by winning pokémon performances. Her pokémon are the fire type braixen and a fighting type pancham. She has also been very helpful in giving me the inspiration I needed when I was down to win my gym battles, and she wears a ribbon I gave her as a gift on her outfit. What else? There has to be something else. She's cute. What?!
The word had come back once again, like a salesperson who wouldn't take no for an answer and kept knocking at your door.
Since when do I think anything is cute? Ever since Goodra left, it's like I've forgotten how to be me. Morning can't come soon enough. Then I can see Serena again... and talk to her! Yes, talk to her! That's why I want to see her again! Not because I think she's- nope. Not finishing that thought. I don't want to know where that was going. Argh. I think I'm going insane. Why can't I find an answer to this problem?
Ash sighed deeply and, summoning a bit of his earlier frustration, punched the tree behind him, doing absolutely nothing to its sturdy trunk. "Help me out here, universe. I can't solve this problem myself." Ash sighed to himself as the open air appeared to receive his plea with silence, feeling a bit silly for thinking that the universe knew of or cared for his problems. He felt utterly terrified when it actually did respond.
"Would you let me try to help you, then?"