Upon arriving to the cave, Ash broke the deafining silence with a cheerful "We're here!" They set their bags against the side of the cave and sat down next to each other near the mouth of the cave, watching the sun set over the horizon in warm splashes of orange and yellow. *This is such a beautiful place... Serena thought, looking over at Ash. The setting sun cast a shadow across his tan skin, putting him in a gorgeous light that made Serena's heart skip a beat.
"Serena, are you sleepy?" Ash asked, catching her stare which caused her cheeks to fill with color. "Kinda..." She said, resisting the temptation to yawn. "Go, Fennekin!" She said, releasing her small fox Pokemon from its Pokeball. "Fenne!" Fennekin said happily. "Pika!" Pikachu greeted her. "I think it might be about time to hit the hay.." Ash said, realizing that bright white stars dotted the dark sky. "Okay," Serena agreed. "Where are we sleeping?" "Oh.."
Ash said, realizing their situation. The cave was large, but cold. They had two sleeping bags in Ash's backpack. Serena and Ash lay out their sleeping bags about two feet away, and slipped up inside them, along with their partners.
"Fenne..." Fennekin said as it curled up alongside Serena. "Goodnight, Ash..." Serena said, looking over at the sleeping boy. He must have been so tired. He fell asleep right as his head hit the pillow. "Serena..." She heard him whisper in his sleep, causing her to blush. *Is he dreaming about me? She thought happily as she drifted off beside her partner.
Upon awaking, Serena walked a little ways into the forest to look for food for breakfast as Ash and Pikachu slept in their sleeping bag. Fennekin walking alongside her, they came across a berry bush, which Fennekin sniffed and smiled,
indicating that the berries were safe to eat.
On her way through the forest back to the cave, she spotted a strange looking Pokemon staring at her from a short distance away into the woods. Holding her Pokedex up to the mysterious dark Pokemon, Serena was shocked with the result.
"Unidentified Pokemon." stated the robotic voice that echoed in Serena's head. Excited to tell Ash about her discovery, she ran to the cave to let him know, finding that he woke up. "Ash!" Serena shouted to him excitedly. "You gotta see what I found!" she said, grabbing his hand and rushing through the forest to where she found the strange new Pokemon. "Whoa!" Ash yelled, laughing and trying not to stumble through the wild life of the forest. "There!" Serena said,
pointing to two glowing blue eyes that shine through a shadowed patch of the forest. "What Pokemon is that?!" Ash said, staring at the eyes with excitement. "I don't know," Serena said, looking curiously at the thing. "I found it.
There's no entry for it in the Pokedex." "Wow, you found a new Pokemon, Serena!" Ash said in amazement. "Yeah, I guess I did!" She said happily. She looked down at her hand, completely forgetting to let go of Ash after arriving to the new Pokemon. Her face flooding with color, Serena abruptly pulled her hand away. "Sorry!" She shouted with her eyes shut tight. "Hm? What're you sorry for?" Ash said, completely unaware that they were holding hands moments before.
"Nevermind..." Serena said, an imense blush remaining on her face.
"Cyp!" called out the new Pokemon, startling the trainers. "It said something!" Serena said, shocked. "It said "Cyp"..." Ash said thoughtfully. "Cyprio!" It cried, staring intensely into both Ash and Serena's eyes. Falling to the forest floor, both Serena and Ash were unconsious, along with Pikachu and Fennekin.
Ash, Serena, and their partners awoke right near each other, but they were no longer in the forest. They stared around them in confusion, taking in their surroundings. A pitch black void-like sky hung over large gray varying landforms,
such as mountains and plains. "Where... Where are we?" Serena said frightened, resisting the temtation to bury her face into Ash's jacket. "I have no idea.." Ash said, looking around. In the distance, Ash spotted the Pokemon that they saw before ariving in this god awful place. The place was lit, but the source of the light wasn't visible. "Where are we!?" Ash shouted angrily at the frightening dark Pokemon. "Cyp..." It said in response, followed by what seemed like a chuckle. Serena looked around her, hoping to get some clue as to a place they could escape this place. While looking, she noticed many of the Pokemon that greeted them before wandering around in the area. "Ash, look!" She said,
pointing to a mountain that seemed to stand out compared to the others. There was an enterance at its mid-point that seemed to have a red sort of glow emitting from the enterance. "We should check it out." Ash agreed.
When they reached the enterance to the cave, Serena was trembling. She couldn't help but hold on to Ash's arm from behind, because she was petrified. Ash noticed this, and a bright red dusted his cheeks at first, but he straightened up afterward. *She's just really scared... Ash thought as the color drained from his cheeks. At this point Serena had returned Fennekin to her Pokeball and Pikachu sat pirched on Ash's opposite shoulder to the one Serena was clutching.
The red glow of the cave enterance didn't let up until they reached the center of the mountain. Once they did, what they saw was shocking. In the center of the cavern, the source of the red glow emerged, revealing what seemed to be a large version of the Pokemon they had come across before, though this one was much larger, and instead of the black color that the other Pokemon beheld, this one had bright, red glowing skin that made it almost impossible to look directly at without squinting your eyes. Six different paths circled the center of the cavern like spokes on a wheel. In between each spoke was a seemingly endless void that beheld deafening silence.
"What are you, and why are we here?!" Ash yelled at the thing, his echoes bouncing off the walls of the cavern. "No, Ash!..." Serena said quietly, but it was too late. The large Pokemon had already took action, coming at them at full speed, and they could already feel the ground crumbling under them. "Go, Fletchinder!" Ash shouted, releasing his large bird Pokemon. "Come on! Quick!" Ash said, grabbing Serena's hand and pulling her up onto Fletchinder.
"Fletch!" said the large bird, flying at full speed away from the large red Pokemon that crashed blindly down the now empty path. Realizing it had missed it's target, the Pokemon glared up at the group, followed by a deafening battle cry. "CYPRIO!" It screeched, causing both Serena and Ash to wince. Serena noticed for the first time that Ash's grip on her hand hadn't let up at all since he pulled her up on Flechinder, causing her face to flood red.
"Pikachu, Thunderbolt!" Ash shouted for his partner as an intense bolt of lightning hit the large Pokemon. Suprisingly, the Pokemon that was once so frightening was fainting, but on its way down it hit Fletchinder, causing Serena to loose her balance. "SERENA!" Ash shouted, holding onto her for dear life as Serena held Ash's hand in a death grip as she screemed, hanging over the seemingly endless void of nothing. Ash couldn't pull her up; Fletchinder wasn't able to stop flapping its wings, making it a near impossible task. "Don't let go..." Serena said, tears stinging her cheeks. "I won't..." Ash said, looking down at her. It's his turn to be terrified. Serena's grip loosened; she wouldn't be able to hold on much longer. And then she fell.
"SERENA!" Ash screamed, putting Pikachu on Fletchinder's back and jumping off after her. Falling quickly, he managed to catch up with her. Grabbing her shoulders, Ash shook her in an attemt to get her attention. "Serena, I'm here!"
Ash said, both of their hats long gone by now. Trembling, Serena opened her eyes, then screamed. "ASH!... you're falling, too..." She said, tears spilling from her eyelids. "You think I woulda left you?" Ash said with a smile full of pity. "Ash!" she screamed, burying her face into his shoulder. "Why would you do such a thing?! You'll DIE!" she said, bawling. "Serena..." he said, smiling. "I don't regret a thing." He said, looking her in the eyes. As they fell,
Serena realized this was going to be her last chance to tell him how she felt. "Ash, I..." She said, but before she could get out the last two words, Ash kissed her. They didn't have time for her to say it. They would have to show it. They didn't pull away until they could see the cavern floor rushing at them. They held each other until they slammed into something soft...
"Fletch!" Fletchinder called, holding Serena, Ash, and Pikachu, and flying up at full speed. Ash opened his eyes when he realized they were no longer falling. Ash noticed A familiar weight on his shoulder. "Pika!" Said his partner happily. "Serena!" Ash said smiling. "We're safe." "Huh..?" She said, opening her eyes and taking in her surroundings. She sat by Ash and Pikachu, and sat on the back of Fletchinder. She was relieved, and she threw herself into Ash, hugging him and crying. "We're alive!" She said, overjoyed. "I know!" He said. When she looked up at him, a spark flew as they spoke. "Ash, you..." Serena said, trailing off, her face turning red. "I sure did," He said with an embarrassed smile. "Well..." Serena said, looking into his eyes. "Now it's my turn." She said before kissing him. Shocked at first, Ash realized that she was pouring all her supressed feelings for him into that very kiss. He never knew how much she actually cared for him, let alone that she cared for him at all. Pulling away, she smiled, letting him hold her in his arms until they escaped the cave.
Once outside of the mountain, the two focused on getting out of the wasteland that surrounded them. Walking to one of the Cryprios, Pikachu tried to nagotiate, with success. The Cryprio took them back to where they were in the forest.
As Ash regained consiousness, he looked over at Serena's unconsious body, along with Fennekin and Pikachu. *Was... Was that all a dream? He thought, a wave of depression flooding over him. As Serena's eyes fluttered open, and she looked up at Ash, blushing from the previous moments they had shared, causing all of Ash's doubts to wash away as he offered her a hand to help her up, which she took, of course. "We should probably see if we can find the nearest Pokemon center." Ash said, taking action. They walked back to the cave and packed up camp, not letting go of each other once. Upon arriving to the nearest Pokemon center, they met up with Clemont and Bonnie, who seemed a lot better than the previous few nights. "Uhm... Ash?" Clemont asked Ash with a bit of a shocked look on his face. "Are you and Serena.. holding hands?" He said, confused. "We sure are," Ash said, smiling at Serena, dusting her cheeks in a bright pink color. "Why is that?" He asked, still in shock. "Long story," They said with a laugh. On the way to the next town, they walked west into the blooms of orange and yellow surrounding the sunset, and tried to ingore Bonnie as she sang: "Serena and Ash, sitting in a tree, G!"