Ash Ketchum sat quietly within the Pokemon Center, gazing out of a nearby window and watching the downpour of rain. It was late at night, and he had not moved from his current position for hours. The only other living being near him was his loyal companion, Pikachu, who was curled up beside him and fast asleep. Any movement from the Pokemon Trainer came from the occasional fidgeting of his hands. Any sound was from his rough, uneasy breathing.
"Ash...?" The quiet voice of his traveling companion, Clemont, called out to him. Ash remained motionless for a few seconds, before slowly moving his head to look at his friend who was approaching him. The Lumiose Gym Leader took one look into his eyes and knew instantly that getting his friend to talk would be impossible. Sitting down opposite him, he noticed Ash was once again gazing out of the window at the relentless rain. "Bonnie's asleep now. It's still... really hard, trying to get her to sleep. She's both worried and frightened about Serena-
A bolt of thunder suddenly crashed down into the woods outside the Pokemon Center. Clemont jumped at the sudden loud noise and his breathing became even more agitated than it was only moments before.
"Chaaa..." Pikachu yawned, sitting up and stretching its arms after being awoken by the thunder and lightning. The electric type rubbed its eyes and looked at its owner, noticing Ash had not moved at all since it had fallen asleep. Its ears lowered and the scientist saw how sad the Pokemon was.
"It was just the weather, Pikachu. You can go back to sleep." Ash spoke, catching both Clemont and Pikachu's attention. Ash gently rubbed Pikachu's cheeks for a few seconds, during which it closed its eyes and yawned happily. The mouse Pokemon returned to its sleeping position and closed its eyes, preparing to go back to sleep.
"Ash..." Clemont muttered, attempting to restart the conversation. "Uhm, it's getting pretty late, so I'm going to go to bed now. I don't want to leave Bonnie on her own either. You... should do the same."
"It's been almost two weeks, Clemont." Ash said softly, catching the blonde trainer's attention. Hints of frustration creaked through his voice. "Almost two weeks, and not a single hint of change. You'd think they would have at least found out what's causing it by now."
Clemont listened closely to what Ash was saying. This was the first time Ash had truly spoken about the situation effecting the entire group and how he felt about it. "I... understand, but they're doing the best they can."
"I'm... sorry, Clemont. I never thought something like this would have ever happened... I... I just haven't been myself lately." Ash continued, his voice slightly breaking as he struggled to speak. Clemont noticed a small tear falling out of his friend's right eye. The future Pokemon Master lowered his cap in shame, trying to hide his sorrow.
"No one has, Ash." Clemont admitted. The inventor sighed and stood up, giving his friend a small nod and heading off to his room.
Ash closely watched his friend leave and once Clemont had left his sights, he groaned in frustration.
"Pika?" The quiet voice of his first Pokemon called out to him.
"I'm gonna go see her. You coming?" Ash queried Pikachu, who nodded his head straight away. The trainer from Pallet Town forced himself up and stretched his arms as he walked to the front of the Pokemon Center. The doors automatically opened and the Ash dashed outside into the rain.
Bonnie shot up like a bullet and screamed. She panted heavily and tears formed in her eyes. "Another... nightmare..." She murmured to herself. After rubbing her eyes to clear any evidence of her sadness, Bonnie crashed back onto her pillow. However, she couldn't help but silently sob as she stared at the ceiling.
"Nene?" The voice of her Pokemon best friend, called out to her. It hopped over to her location and tapped her, wondering if she was alright.
"I'm okay, Dedenne." Bonnie reassured her companion, stroking the tiny fairy type. "Sorry if I woke you up."
Knowing she wasn't getting back to sleep anytime soon, Bonnie got out of bed and looked out the window. It was still raining heavily but the young girl found some comfort in the sound of the downpour. It was peaceful.
"Bonnie! Are you okay?!" The distressed voice of her brother called out to her, making her jump. She quickly turned around and tried to hide her sad emotions by smiling and reassuring she was fine, but Clemont didn't buy it. The inventor approached his younger sister and embraced her with a hug. "Did you have a nightmare?" He questioned his sibling.
"Yeah..." Bonnie whimpered, not hesitating to let out all her tears in her brother's arms. "It was horrible... I dreamt that you wouldn't wake up either..."
Clemont paused briefly before gently stroking her blonde hair. Despite being her brother, Clemont was not used to be being her main source of comfort when Bonnie was upset. That role was usually reserved for someone else who wasn't with them currently. "I'll be alright, Bonnie. Nothing won't happen to me. If I can live endless explosions from my inventions, I'm pretty sure I'll be fine."
His attempt to lighten the mood and cheer her up worked as Bonnie giggled a little at his response.
"Can we go see her tomorrow, Clemont?" She asked as she cleared the liquid from her eyes.
"Of course we can."
After some additional comfort from her brother, Bonnie fell asleep and Clemont put her to bed.
"I'm sorry. We haven't seen him since last night."
Clemont was surprised to hear that Ash was nowhere to be found when he and Bonnie awoke the following morning. As he listened to Nurse Joy's answer when Bonnie asked if she had seen him, he pondered where his friend had gone.
"He'll be alright, won't he?" Bonnie asked worryingly.
Nurse Joy gave her a comforting smile and nodded her head. "He has all his Pokemon with him, I'm sure he'll be fine."
"Bonnie, let's go see Serena. To be honest, I think that's where Ash went anyway." Clemont provided his conclusion to Ash's whereabouts. Bonnie nodded several times and Dedenne too agreed with the gym leader's suggestion.
The two siblings left the Pokemon Center after Clemont retrieved his Pokemon and they walked in silence to their destination.
When the two eventually reached the hospital and entered the room they had visited so much recently, Bonnie couldn't help but smile at what she saw. Sat on a chair beside a hospital bed was Ash, who was sleeping peacefully. Surrounding him were four familiar Pokemon who were also fast asleep. The first was Ash's best friend, Pikachu. The remaining three were Braixen, Pancham and Sylveon, Pokemon that belonged to the Pokemon Performer and future Kalos Queen, Serena.
The very same Serena who was in the hospital bed.
If it wasn't for the medical equipment, it would look like she was also sleeping calmly.
"Let's not disturb them, Bonnie." Clemont whispered. Bonnie nodded in agreement and the two sat down.
After a few minutes, a knock on the room's door came to their attention. One of the doctors the group had became familiar with entered and greeted only Clemont, who then noticed his sister and Dedenne had also fallen sound asleep.
"So... do you know anything more about Serena's condition?" Clemont asked. It was a question asked almost daily.
"Unfortunately not. I just wanted to do some checkups if that is alright." The doctor explained, to which Clemont gave his approval. Clemont looked over to the sleeping performer and felt guilt that he could not help himself. He was a scientist and though he wasn't a doctor, he wished he could invent something that could help. He feared that even if he could invent something, it would end up malfunctioning and causing even more harm to Serena. That thought held him back a lot.
Once the doctor finished his procedure, Clemont asked him if they were close to making any form of breakthrough. He had gotten the same answer almost daily and it was that she was alive and stable, but something that they couldn't find the cause of was preventing Serena from waking up.
"Clemont, is that you?" A familiar adult voice was heard. Clemont looked to the source of the voice, which was coming from the entrance. He recognized the clothing and wild hairstyle also immediately.
"Professor Sycamore?" He said in shock. He wasn't expecting to see the professor at all. They were in Lumiose City, but it was a large city after all. Then he realized. "What are you doing in this hospital?"
"A trainer whom I gave a Pokemon to as their starter had an injury on Route 5. I wanted to check up on them and make sure they were alright. Thankfully it was only a minor injury. What about you? Why are you here?" He explained and then asked the inventor. The professor let himself into the room and then saw who was sleeping on the hospital bed. "S-Serena?!"
"Serena... she won't wake up." Clemont quickly answered the question he knew Sycamore was going to ask.
Sycamore paused momentarily before deciding to take a chair and sit down next to the gym leader. "How long ago did this happen?"
"About two weeks."
"Around the time of the Kalos League and... Team Flare's attack." Sycamore realized. "Did they have something to do with this?!"
Clemont flinched at Sycamore as he had slightly raised his voice. Sycamore apologized as soon as he remembered there were people sleeping in the room. The professor's assumption was valid though. Two weeks ago Team Flare had launched a colossal attack on Lumiose City. The majority of the city was damaged, but repairs were proceeding quickly thanks to the efforts of heroes like Ash and Greninja who saved the city and the Kalos region as a whole.
"No, at least I don't think so. This... happened a few days after."
"Everyone else is okay, right?" He asked, looking around and noticing Ash and Bonnie sound asleep, alongside Pikachu, Dedenne and Serena's Pokemon.
"Both of them have trouble sleeping. I do as well, but not as much as them. I think being in here with Serena helps them." Clemont provided his analysis. "After all... we're like a family. Bonnie's really hurt over this and she's still upset over Squishy having to leave. As for Ash... its probably hurt him the most. He thinks it's his fault."
"It was my fault."
The gym leader and professor looked up and saw that Ash had awoken. Sycamore instantly noticed his face, it was a face he had never seen on the Pokemon Trainer before. It was the face of a frightened boy, who was truly terrified about his friend's condition.
"Ash, you know you're not-" The young electric type trainer started.
But Ash decided to interrupt him. "It was, Clemont."
"What exactly happened?" Sycamore queried. "I'd like to hear the full story, if that's alright. Perhaps I can help figure out what exactly happened to her, since you don't seem to know."
The two Pokemon trainers stared at each other, both hoping the other could explain. After some time of silence, Ash finally gave in with a sigh.
"Okay... here goes..."
"Everyone! Food is ready!" Clemont announced to the group. Bonnie cheered happily with Dedenne soon approving himself after. Ash and Serena both smiled and sat down, ready to have some of Clemont's delicious cooking.
It was a few days after Team Flare's attack on Lumiose City, which Ash and many other people helped to fend off. Due to the damage done to Lumiose City, its main airport was not offering any flights. Ash was planning to head back to Kanto, but due to these circumstances he was prevented from doing so. Thankfully, an airport in Vaniville Town had flights to Kanto, so Ash decided it would be a good idea to head there. After all, it was an area of Kalos he had not explored yet and it was also Serena's hometown. They were currently all on Route 4 and had stopped to have something to eat.
Serena was silent as she ate. She had a lot to think about.
"Hey, Serena. You alright?" Ash asked her after swallowing some food. Usually, she was active in the conversation as they ate, but she was being strangely quiet.
"Y-Yeah!" She stuttered, a faint blush appearing on her cheeks since Ash caught her lost in thought. "Sorry, I was just thinking about stuff."
"What stuff?" Ash inquired. He didn't quite buy that everything was alright and wanted to make sure she was okay.
"Well, uhm..." She started, hesitating as she tried to think of words to say. "Well, we're uhm, we're almost near the end of our journey. When you go back to Kanto, that's it... we all go our own ways."
"Yeah... Serena's right..." Bonnie muttered. She too was sad as well at the thought of the group splitting up. They had been together for so long after all.
Ash smirked and laughed a little, "That's it?" Serena's mood quickly changed and she looked both upset and angry him. She was about to speak against him, but he continued. "Well, I'm honestly a little sad too. Hey, what don't you three all come back to Kanto with me? It'll be great fun! You can see all the Pokemon I've caught!"
"That sounds amazing!" Bonnie shouted in agreement. She turned to her brother with beaming eyes. "Can we, big brother?! Can we please?"
Clemont sighed at his little sister's begging, "I'm sorry, Bonnie, but I don't think we can. I have gym duties to consider and I don't know if it's okay letting you go on your own. Besides, even if I did think it was okay we'd have to ask dad first."
"C'mon, Clemont!" Bonnie scoffed at him. "Clembot can take care of all the gym duties. He's been doing it for so long already! Dad's been letting us traveling through Kalos just fine! It'll be fun! Besides, we're heading to Vaniville Town and the airport right now already. We wanted to see Ash off but how cool will it be to go with him?"
Clemont gave in. "Alright, when we reach Santalune City I'll call him, just to make sure."
"Awesome!" Ash cheered in excitement, alongside Bonnie who was equally as happy. "What about you, Serena?"
The Kalosian girl instinctively touched her blue ribbon and paused her eating as she wondered how to respond. Continuing her journey with Ash after the Kalos League was something that had been on her mind as long as she could remember. She knew his time in Kalos would come to an end and she desperately wanted to come with him to wherever he was heading next, but Palermo's offer of training her and helping Serena to fulfill her dream held her back for sometime. However, the past Kalos Queen had told the girl from Vaniville to call her when her journey was over. Serena had decided only recently that journey wasn't going to end yet. She was thankful Ash asked her to come with her; she honestly had no idea how she would have asked him herself. Serena smiled and responded, "Well, I'd have to ask my mother... but honestly I'd love you."
The performer's eyes widened in astonishment at what she said. Her face grew a crimson red and her heart began to beat incredibly fast. Bonnie glared at her but with a cheeky grin.
"That's great! You'll love it in Kanto!" Ash replied with a cheerful smile. Serena's breathing calmed down fast and she breathed a drawn out sigh of relief. Bonnie continued to stare at her but she ended up giggling quietly to herself. Serena simply smiled.
"I'm looking forward to it."
