Alright this will seem uncharacteristic to many of you, but Amourshipping is just starting to leap up the list of interesting ships lately. Lemme put it to you this way: if Pokemon EVER resolves shipping, this will be their endgame. But that won't happen anyway, so we can continue to just live in our heads and leave it at that.

Dunno how else to put it. This ship is becoming more and more enchanting and convincing as we go along. Unarguably Serena harbors further feelings for Ash/Satoshi...it's a matter of how requited it develops. Only thing that I can see that may prove me unfaithful is if Korrina/Corni and how believable Shalourshipping is becoming (hinthintwinkwinknudgenudge)

Also be wary this is made before Ash is anywhere NEAR the Kalos League or whatever the hell they'll call it this time in Japan. So any inconsistencies that might appear are unfortunate and unavoidable. I apologize for that ahead of time.

Trainers always talked about their "10 minute drill".

Before every official Pokemon League match, there was about a half hour that trainers had to spend idle; it increased hype among the audience and allowed people to get to most of the matches they wanted to, having this time gap. Theoretically it is possible for the league to start having its matches and finish them in about 4 days. But between all the ceremonies, like the torchrun, the time gap between matches (especially the days of recuperation between main stages in the event), and the way the matches were actually held ended up making the event last about 2 weeks, give or take a couple days depending on where it was being held and the number of entrants.

The first few days are usually brutal. An endless stream of battle after battle after battle after battle to whittle down the thousands of entrants to just a few hundred kept trainers busy from morning till night. Even then somehow the league managed to maintain the thirty minute gap between matches trainers partake in.

The first bit of the thirty minutes usually involved watching any previous matches currently being held, maybe some suiting up of the registered party and any last-minute strategy planning. This was the easy part for Battlers as compared to Coordinators: Pokemon Contest entrants had to throttle at a full 100% right from the very beginning of their time gap, dressing up Pokemon and setting Ball Capsules and the like.

However it was the final ten minutes that were deceptively difficult for trainers as compared to coordinators. Coordinators were pretty much set and ready to go and just had to leave the changing room or lobby for the stage almost immediately to begin their contest. The Ribbon Cup was slightly different, but only because coordinators had a longer ways to travel as compared to normal contest halls from waiting room to contest stage.

Trainers? They were called to a tunnel in their final ten minutes to check-in. And they had to wait. In an empty hall. Surrounded by metal. Hearing the match ahead of them ending if hadn't yet. Alone. With their thoughts. And nothing else. Heaven forbid the ongoing match lasted too long, because that just extended their time in the tunnel. Amateurs who weren't used to this usually had a 5-hour long wait those 10 minutes. Veterans however, knew what to do in that lonely tunnel. Mental exercises, meditations, conversing with the lead and the trump card for that match, fiddling with extraneous gizmits and gadjos, the works.

The "10 minute drill".

Naturally Ash's 10 minute drill was sporadic and always changing. It consisted of some conglomeration of speaking with Pikachu along with the rest of his party and bouncing off of every wall in excitement. Sometimes literally. Just ask Sinnoh—they had to deal with his shenanigans scratching the tunnel on three separate occasions.

Ash was always excited, but never nervous. That was what accounted for so much of his mental toughness and his capability to rise to the occasion when called upon. This excitement visibly bled into his party. Even stoic and unwavering cold types like Sceptile seemed to have a fire lit in their eye when they were called upon on the big stage.

But he was always missing something, which caused him to misfire in the final 8 or final 4 contestants consistently.

Ash had been classified as a veteran by pretty much anyone even somewhat knowledgeable about trainer info since he finished the Hoenn League. Needless to say, Kalos was just like any other region at this point.

The metallic and unlit tunnel always seemed to push him outside to the bright and inviting stage where he would do battle. He didn't mind any sort of temperature, and the slightly chilly tunnel's draft felt nice and calming. His anticipation seemed to be bursting from his tan and rough yet clean skin, and the raven-colored hair seemed to prick a little more up, making it slightly more unkempt than usual. Of course only those closest to him would ever notice something minute like that.

Contrary to expected, Ash was not immune to thoughts of ponder during this time. Things like party decisions, misplays and miscommunication moments during earlier competitions, and sometimes even stupid things like why he didn't finish his 12th sandwich last night, would rise up in him when confined by the metal tube. Yet his decision to turn down a spot as a Frontier Brain would nag him more than the others at this point, and would add the the burden of regret that would wash over him whenever he lost a battle at this stage. He did not necessarily regret turning the decision down as much as he just regretted not being able to replicate that success since; all the same, thoughts of "what if?" always haunted him, and darkened his milk chocolate eyes if even a little.

However once the battle ahead of him commenced, those would all vanish like Phantump.

He dwelled and accepted those thoughts as real for a short period of time. Then he pushed them to the back of his mind.

1 minute.

This league was looking pretty promising so far. The primary stages were all easier than normal, although one battle ended up being deceptively difficult and he had a misconnection with Hawlucha briefly that almost cost him a spot moving further in the competition.

He made sure to spend extra time with him this time to ensure that Hawlucha knew Ash's true resolve, and that the raven-haired boy would refuse to let the mistake ever happen again. Hawlucha, of course, knew Ash very well at this point and had already moved past what happened. Truth be told, Hawlucha didn't even particularly care that much about what transpired a few days back even in the middle of it happening. Frustrated? Yeah, he was. But he didn't have a doubt in his mind that Ash would come to his senses.

Ash recalled Hawlucha.

Unravelling the foil of a square of dark chocolate, he popped a piece into his mouth. Dark chocolate is made mostly from pure cocoa, with very little sugar added in. It's mostly bitter with some sweet, usually forcing the consumer to pay attention to the food if a high enough concentration of cocoa is used.

Clear his mind of all toxins.

3 minutes.

Ash then took out his lead for this time around and spent time talking with Talonflame. This upcoming battle was surely gonna be a doozy, being the semifinals and all. Talonflame had to be on her top game if this battle was going to be a success. In a battle that comes down to a matter of milliseconds, of having enough strength to send a little more power into that Thunderbolt, to put just a little more effort into parrying the foe's Slash, to barely squeeze out the fortitude to hit the opponent one last time through their Hyper Beam, in a battle coming down to all that, a strong start could prove invaluable.

Granted, it wouldn't make or break the fight itself. Simply taking care of all the details goes a long way in the long run.

4 and a half minutes.

After calling Talonflame back to its Pokeball and whispering some final words of encouragement to her, Ash turned to his pride and joy, his tide and true.

PIkachu seemed calm and prepared. Always a good sign. All it took was a smile, a fist pump, and a nod, and all the needed to be communicated, did.

5 minutes.

Ash got up and let out a huge grunt as he went through some last stretches. It was important to keep the calves, deltoids, and neck muscles all loose and warm even here in the tunnel. If one of those held you back during a battle and forced you to flinch out of fear of pulling something, the trainer could end up being a half step too slow to react, and a half second too late to compensate thereafter.

While stretching these muscles, Ash also did some simple leg-ups and jogged in place a little. Something felt special about today. Every bone in his body seemed to echo…something. He felt…something. Something felt…special. No matter how much he dwelled on it the same thoughts kept coming back to him. He just couldn't quite…pinpoint what it was he wanted to pinpoint. This bothered him a little and caused him to stop his tricep stretch and just stand there rather stupidly, his arm just dangling behind his head with nothing to do. Today felt great but…there was something missing. A piece of the puzzle had not yet fallen into place.

8 minutes.

Time was running out. Ash simply sighed and shook off the anxiety. His match was about to start, and it would be best to just write off the bone-ache as simply an anomaly. Forget about it, and it will go away.

He was so focused on the battle he couldn't hear the echoing footsteps, granted they were softer than the usual person's. He started moving a little closer to the stage, when all of a sudden a hand grasped his shoulder. It scared the living daylights out of him and he felt like a Will o' Wisp ran right through his heart from that shoulder.

He turned…

To live without regrets: what exactly did that mean?

Serena had been searching for the answer to that phrase for a long time. Her mother would always be preaching those words to an almost trite status. It made it so difficult to handle those delicate things we babble out in changing syllables to communicate different ideas.

Perhaps that was the most difficult thing part. Searching for hidden meaning in something that didn't hold any meaning at its base.

These last few days had been some of the best and most ominous she had to deal with in recent memory. Ash seemed to be at his highest high when competing at the Pokemon League level. Competition that finally seemed worthy of all his expertise and ability showed up and he could battle at his highest level.

Yet…it felt fleeting and final. And she didn't like that.

She had vowed to keep these feelings of hers locked up for a while now. Surely nothing good could come of exposing them to the harsh light of a midsummer Kalos sun.

Opening her fine and strong hand, she peered at the crinkling, shiny wrap covering a special piece of milk chocolate. Serena had bought it at a concession stand before returning to her seat to prepare for Ash's big match. The place had sold it off as being a soothing sweet, something that could help you out when the going gets rough. She had planned to pop it if her companion ever had a difficult moment to help her keep calm.

What a bunch of bluk berry. How in the heck could her keeping calm help out Ash?

Some catchy noises blared out from the loud speakers. Sighing, Serena lifted her face up to look at the Jumbotron displaying some pre-game hype. Some high-quality graphics, trainer bios, brief match histories, and recaps of the two trainers' journeys to this point. But then…it pulled up the match statistics

It showed that Ash was favored to lose. And the line was not small.

That shook something in Serena. She knew Ash very well, and the line did not seem to lie. Dare she say it was even completely accurate. Her sea blue eyes seemed to fall a few meters further into their own blueness.

Something…she had to do something…

As if compelled by her heart, she bolted out of her seat, much to the surprise of Clemont and Bonnie. They started to call after her, but she was already halfway up the stairs.

She had no idea where Ash was. She had heard something about tunnels, but beyond that there was little to no clues as to where he could be right now. What even where these tunnels? How would a casual spectator with no clearance like herself get the right to find him?

…

No, she would find him. It wasn't new for her to be chasing after his hand, staring into the back of his ravenish, unkempt hair. This was just the drill.

But this time, she would push a little harder and catch up.

For a moment the air hung still as Serena's hair fluttered slowly in front of her red face, gasping from breath and slightly tinged in sweat. She had lunged to catch him, but Rhyhorn racing did not improve one's ability to balance on the balls of your feet at a severe angle.

Ash's milk chocolate eyes grew a little, stuffing themselves with a little razz berry filling. His hands instinctively reached out to catch her beautiful falling body. His fingers slowly twined around her waist as his right foot scratched backwards to give himself a stable foundation.

And they just hung there, Serena spilling into Ash with her hand grasping heavily, daringly, rebelliously on his unsuspecting shoulder.

They looked each other in the eyes from that short distance, and oddly neither of them felt even the slightest bit awkward or uneasy. It felt…natural.

Like this was the distance they were at least supposed to have.

Ash started to ask Serena the obvious, but cut himself off when an index finger gently but quickly pressed up in front of the racer's face.

breatHE IN…

…BREathe out

fffffFWWWWIIII-…

…-FFFFWWwwoooo

…

Then Serena lifted her chin up, eyes still tiredly closed. Then, she opened those enchanting, sea blue eyes into the ashen face of the boy before her with her cream and gorgeous one. And she spoke the words that would make way more of a difference than she could ever imagine. Words she thought was a selfish burden she placing on poor Ash.

"I love you."

Serena brought her lips right up to Ash's cheek and held them there for a moment longer. She pulled away from the slightly moist area, and looked at Ash with those playful, aggressive, rebellious eyes.

The chocolate in Ash's eyes turned full white. Serena giggled at his shocked and unsuspecting reaction. Basically exactly what she expected. She opened his limp right hang with her own and slipped the milk chocolate piece into his hand.

"Eat this when you feel troubled out there, okay?"

Without waiting for a reply, she glanced up at the slight bit of hair visible under his cap. Giggling once more, she brushed a couple strands aside of his eyebrow. As she turned to leave she called out to him:

"Your hair looks a little bit more disheveled than normal right now. You'll look like a slob like that!"

Teasing words saturating the air, she ran away from the spot, almost skipping as she went.

Ash's eyes were glued right to her back. It almost seemed to beckon him to follow, and he subconsciously scooted a couple steps in her direction.

"…"

Ironically, the dense idiot didn't stamble and bunter around like a flapping Finneon outta water. And even more strangely, almost as if on cue, his brain knew exactly what to think.

Serena…how long as she been wanting to say those words?

…

What will happen to those words if they get left here in this tunnel?

…

How would they ever stay right here in this tunnel?

…

What do I feel about those words?

…

What do I do?

…

…

…

And then, the answers just shifted right into place.

Those words will be left here if I lose. If I lose this cycle of me moving on past this region and continuing in a different one will repeat once more. Serena's words will be left right here, and will never leave the Kalos league.

If I lose.

If I don't?

…

What do I…feel about those words?

…

I want to treasure them. No, beyond that, I want to embrace them. Who knows if this is what she feels as love, but I certainly will refuse to let them dwell here and only here until I find out.

To do so, I cannot lose. If I win this league, I will have a reason to stay here a while longer.

Break the cycle.

I must break the cycle.

Those were Ash's final words as he finally stepped forward to the stage waiting for him.

The final puzzle piece had been set. His bones felt satisfied.

He had a new resolve stepping froward. He would not win this battle as a stepping stone to becoming a Pokemon Master. He would win this battle for precious Serena. No, even further than that: he would refuse to lose this battle for precious and lovely Serena.

Lovely Serena…

When did I start having thoughts like that?

The sun shone down upon Ash's hat, and showed only his lower face. Spectators saw a confident but determined yet peaceful smile, and what might have been a glint of reflection like water on his cheek.

Those words Serena uttered…those selfish burdenous words…

They would end up being the most selfless thing anyone had ever done for Ash.

In 35 and a half minutes, the cycle will have started to be broken. In 1 day, 3 hours, and 21 minutes, it will have been completely shattered. A previously selfish act reformed selfless to turn a previously selfish act transform selfless.

It would be the best thing that ever happened to the boy with chocolate and determined eyes and the girl with rebellious and wild ones.

11 minutes.

After the ceremonies were done and over, and all important persons were presented their trophies and their awards, Ash had a little more to deal with ahead of him. Calls from Professor Oak, his mom, Brock, probably May and Dawn, and many more were sure to follow. He had a lot of congratulations heading his way.

But funnily enough, that was all relatively unimportant to the boy with raven hair at the moment. He had been doing a lot of thinking recently, and last night he had come up with the single most important decision in his eyes of his entire life, so far. Even winning the Kalos League had meant little to nothing to him compared to this.

He pushed through the interviewers pestering him. His eyes darted around, searching for the exit.

He pushed through it and trucked through the mob of paparazzi on top of him. Winning the league was one thing. With only one Pikachu? That was an entirely different thing altogether.

Nagging questions and words of admiration flooded the air around Ash. For some reason, the only ones that stuck to his brain were the ones of fangirlling "I love you", and that bothered the hell out of him and back.

Lowering his head to try and communicate his lack of interest in talking, he pushed his way through the crowd. He just had to find her…

His friends promised to meet him up in the main lobby. But that place was so packed, he couldn't even see the receptionist when he was just about a couple Camerupts away from the front desk. He gave up and moved on past that as well.

Those chocolate eyes of his grew dark. They were filled with slight bitterness toward the hassle of winning this whole darn thing. It was a necessary step, but an annoying one too.

But once he pushed through the doors, the people around him started to get a subconscious feeling. Somehow they just knew that this boy would entertain all their questions soon, he just had some unfinished and urgent business to take care of.

So slowly, they detached themselves and let him go.

Thankful, the boy with raven hair started darting around to find his friends…

…That's right. He knew exactly where to go…

Unrequited. Has to be.

Serena was sitting underneath a fountain. Plenty of people were moving around here even though all the buzz was centered around Ash and his unprecedented victory. She just wanted to be alone with her thoughts. So she chose the fountain where Ash had eaten ice cream with her for a minute or so alone a few days ago. It was just a short period of time before the rest of the gang showed up.

Melodramatic, isn't it?

She didn't expect him to show up. He had his own dealings to bother with.

So naturally, when she looked up, there he was, shifting through the crowd, rushing toward her, his eyes ablaze with passion and determination.

Her eyes stopped their flow of tears as she shifted her fluffy and elegant caramel hair out of her face.

Now it was Ash's turn to be out of breath. He had never done this before, so he had to take a moment to figure out how to do this exactly.

That moment had actually lasted a little over 1 day and 5 hours at this point.

So he took a deep breath in, and exhaled air of fear and courage.

He started, staring at her elegant and peacefully charming waist.

"In return for your gift the other day…"

He pulled out a small heart, reached out, and plopped it onto her tear-stained skirt.

It was a quaint, bite-sized, heart-shaped piece of white chocolate. White chocolate is the furthest from the bitter dark stuff one can create. It is mostly milk and sugar with very little cocoa.

Sweet. Pure, untainted, unwavering sweet.

"And in return for all that you have ever done for me…"

He kneeled down in front of his beloved Serena. He brought his lips up to her cheek and pecked it in the same way Serena had.

He brought his face back and stared deep into her eyes.

Blue, beautiful, boisterous, beloved, befixed with happiness.

Without breaking contact, he uttered the start of words he had been searching for, of a truth he had been seeking endlessly, sleeplessly, breaklessly for the last day and a half.

"I'm staying right here with you Serena. I can take a break from adventuring…I hear they have an opening for a gym nearby Vaniville Town."

Tears of unexpected joy started dripping down her cheek, freshly wet from tears of pain…

"I think it's time we focused on you more now. You have your own dreams and aspirations right? It's time instead of walking my own path that I walked the path you just did for me and support you in whatever you want to do."

…Serena's eyes started to fall a little more…

His eyes turned to white chocolate as he smiled and spoke the most important truth statement of his entire life up to this point…

"I love you, too."

…and Serena's sea blue eyes emptied out all the water they had carried with them. The water that had built up for years since she had first accepted that strong and alluring hand in Kanto.

The cycle was now broken.

I am completely sorry to all who know me for Raimei or Advance. I promise you I haven't lost steam with them. I've been pretty busy recently and things have now calmed down enough for me to start writing again. If nothing else it helps me as an overall writer and put together stories that I might want to use later in life.

The next two chapters of Raimei are in the works. Also two other oneshots...one is Advance the other is something special that I hinted earlier on...are also in the works. When I say in the works I mean being written. As in actual words coming together to force me to finish. Why two chapters? You'll see.

Thank you all to my undeserved fans. Let me re-deserve your following.