It was a warm and sunny day in Santalune city, when Ash, Clement, Bonnie, and Serena were on there way to Snowbelle city for Ash's final gym battle. Ash was, as usual, much further ahead of the Bonnie and Serena, while Clement was dragging behind the girls. Ash was so exited about his battle, as he had been training for it for weeks now.
"Ash, Wait up!" Bonnie yelled at Ash, who she was now running to. Bonnie had grown to be very close to Ash, as she loved traveling with the older trainer. As she was running, she noticed Serena follow closely, and that Clemont was picking up speed.
"I'm sorry, I just can't wait to get to Snowbelle city and get my last gym badge!" Ash exclaimed. "Once I do, there will be about a month before the Kalos league, And we can all hang out for a while!" Serena heard this idea, and was happy she could spend more time with Ash. Before anyone else could say anything Serena pipped in.
"That sounds like a great idea!" Serena said now next to Ash and Bonnie. She mostly liked it because she knew she could spend more time with Ash. "Hey Ash," Ash looked her way in acknowledgment that he heard her. "You think on the way to Snowbelle city we can see my mom in Vaniville town?"
"Of course, We have plenty of time before the league , so we will have time to hang out, and do a lot of stuff!" Ash was enthusiastic, as always, and that's one of the things Serena liked about Ash. Ash turned his head to Clemont, who has finally caught up to the rest "Clemont, how far away is Vaniville from here?"
"Hold on, let me check." He pulled out his tablet and looked it up. "It says it's about 2 days of walking, we can make that." Clemont put his tablet away and looked at Ash, who simply nodded.
"I can't wait!" She looked at Serena, who returned her glance "Will we see some more Skiddo and Rhyhorn?" Bonnie noticed Serena had a face she did not have often, a face of nervousness. This brought back memories to Serena of how her mother always made her train with the Rhyhorn. Bonnie recalled her talking about this and added "Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to bring back any memories."
Serena looked back at her with sympathetic eyes and Bonnie felt a little better, "It's fine Bonnie, you didn't mean to." Serena pulled in the younger girl and gave her a hug. Bonnie returned her hug, and after about three seconds, she backed up and smiled at Serena, which made her smile back, and then they returned to walking.
"Pika-Pika-Chu" Pikachu cried, as his stomach grumbled. The group laughed and at the same time, Ash's stomach grumbled as well.
"Well, I guess we could stop to eat for lunch." Clemont said, "There is a really cool spot near here we could visit." Clemont lead the group off the trail into the forest, which they all knew was the Santalune forest, but were he was leading them was within the forest. He took the group to a nearby river which was surrounded by wild Pokemon.
"Look!" Bonnie squeaked "A Roselia!" Bonnie shifted her eyes to Clemont "Clemont can we please catch it? It's so pretty!" Bonnie then returned her eyes on the grass type. She did this while she was waiting for an answer from her brother.
Clemont sighed. "I'm sorry Bonnie, but we can't. You already have Dedenne and Squishy to look after. Bonnie looked down, bu understood. Dedenne climbed out of Bonnie's bag and onto Bonnie's head. Bonnie had to smile as she saw her Pokemon emerge. Clemont then started to set up the table for lunch as Ash and Serena were looking around the area.
"Ash look," She said pointing at some wild Flabebe and Floette, surrounding the river and playing with each other. "there so pretty." Serena smiled, which was not an uncommon sight, as she saw Ash look at the pokemon with an exited look on his face.
"Pika-Pika" Ash's traveling companion said as he jumped of Ash's shoulder to explore more, causing Ash to jump back a little as Pikachu zoomed of Ash's shoulder to play around with Bonnie and Dedenne, who were now in the river playing around. Pikachu was happy as they played around, splashing around and jumping in the water.
"Oh shoot, I forgot to call out my Pokemon!" Ash said while pulling out his Pokeballs. He released Greninja, Hawlucha, Talonflame, and Noivern. They all in unison used there respective calls. Ash then greeted his Pokemon "Hey guys," The group all cheered happily. "I'm sorry that I forgot to pull you out until now." The group of Pokemon all nodded and smiled at their trainer. Ash could only smile back. "Okay guys, go and have some fun!" Serena admired how much Ash and his Pokemon got along.
Serena started thinking to herself. Ash and his Pokemon get along so well. I wish we got along like that. Ash looked over and noticed her train of thoughts. She didn't realize that when she was thinking, she was starting at Ash. Ash saw that and Ash had asked her if she was okay. "Yes Ash, I'm okay, I'm just thinking."
Ash looked back at her and smiled. "Okay well that's good." Ash was about to say more, But Clemont announced that lunch was done. Ash looked over by the river and saw his Pokemon, accompanied by Bonnie, getting out of the water. Ash walked over and sat down. "I'm so hungry, lets eat!" Ash said as he sat down and got a plate.
Serena walked over and sat next to Ash. She got her food and started to eat. By the time she had taken two bites, Ash was done. Ash had always been a fast eater like that, yet nobody knew why, not even Ash. Serena started to stare at Ash. Bonnie noticed this and started to think. Does Serena like Ash? I should ask her later. I think Clemont said we are stopping at a hotel to sleep. I will ask her then.
Serena looked at Ash and Pikachu, who had both eaten all there food, and giggled. "Oh Ash, what are we going to do with you?" Ash just smiled and got up. Serena had finished her food about two minutes after and went to where Ash was. He was talking about the strategies he would use with his team. She overheard him saying that he had been studying Wulfric and his Pokemon. She also heard him say something about maybe using Greninja's mega evolution to battle him. Serena started to get worried about this, as whenever he used this he would take some of the damage Greninja took.
Ash turned around and looked at Serena, noticing the look on her face. "Serena, are you okay? You look worried." Serena blushed and snapped out of her thoughts.
"Huh..Oh, yeah I'm fine. I was just thinking." Serena didn't want to tell Ash about her concerns on his mega evolution, as he thought it may make him think less of her. Serena could tell that Ash thought she was lying, but was relieved to see he let it go. Serena decided to change the subject. "So, did you enjoy your lunch?"
"Yeah, Clemont is a really good cook." Clemont who was cleaning up the table, but overheard what Ash said and slightly blushed. "How about you? Ash responded
"It was awesome." She responded, Clemont not hearing this one. Silence passed for about two minutes.
Clemont broke the silence and said "Hey guys, ready to go? The group all nodded at the same time, recalled all there Pokemon, and got up to follow Clemont. "Okay so it will be dark soon, so we are going to stop at a Pokemon center in Aquacorde town. There we can get a good nights sleep and go to Vaniville town soon after we wake up."
"Good idea, Clemont." Ash admired, as Pikachu jumped onto Ash's shoulder. The group started walking with the goal to get to Aquacorde town by nightfall.
The group finally arrived at Aquacorde town at dusk and went into the Pokemon center to see a welcoming Nurse Joy come out "Hello, welcome to the Aquacorde town Pokemon center. How may we help you." She said gesturing to Audino who walked next to her.
"Hi," Ash said. "May we get some two rooms please?" Nurse Joy nodded to Audino to get the room, and Audino went off.
"Audino will have your rooms ready in a few minutes. Feel free to sit down and watch our television" She said, gesturing to the left where the TV was. She then walked back into the back room to tend to the Pokemon.
The group walked over and sat down. Bonnie grabbed the remote and turned on the TV to see a news story. "A wild Pokemon has been seen attacking Vaniville town, The Pokemon has been identified as a Haxorus. Authority's have done there best to keep this Pokemon neutral, but it wont stop the Assault. Here is officer Jenny on the line.
"Haxorus has been attacking none stop, including hitting civilians. We don't know why this Pokemon is so enraged, we hope to find out soo-" Officer jenny cut out.
"Officer Jenny?" The reported asked with a kind of concerned tone to his voice. "It looks like her mic cut out. We will keep you updated as more comes out."
Bonnie turned off the tv noticing Serena's extremely worried look. She walked up and hugged Serena in an attempt to comfort her. Because of this, The boys looked over and noticed Serena was just about to have a nervous break down.
"Serena, We will stop it. I only wonder, how is Haxorus here? It's native to the Unova region." Ash told Serena, Who was feeling a little better. "I think you may just want to rest. It will be okay." Serena took his advice and decide she would go to sleep. Nurse Joy walked out and told them there rooms are ready, the group thanked her, And went off.
Serena and Bonnie, as always, shared a room. When the two had finished getting ready for bed they started to sleep. Bonnie then remembered what she wanted to ask. "Serena," Serena sat up to acknowledge that she heard. "Do you like Ash?" Serena's face turned bright red, and she responded.
"How did you know?" Serena asked Bonnie.
"The way you act around him."
"Please don't tell anyone." Serena pleaded
"I wont, I swear." Bonnie said as she gave her a small hug and laid back down.
Clemont woke up in the morning to see Ash was not in his bed. He didn't think anything of it until he saw a note on the door. Clemont, I left late last night to help out with Haxorus, Tell the girls. You can come or stay there, I will see you soon. -Ash. Clemont went down to the main lobby to see Serena and Bonnie. Clemont went down to tell them.
"Guys, Ash is gone." Bonnie noticed Serena look very worried, but Clemont continued. "He went to help with the Haxorus situation."
Serena almost cried at this thought. They turned on the news to see that Ash was on it. He was fighting the Haxorus. Serena could here his commands
"Pikachu Electroball!" Ash cried out, Pikachu immediately complied as it shot. It hit Haxorus and there was smoke. When the smoke cleared, Ash noticed that there was a Dragon Pulse coming, but not at Pikachu...but at him. The attack hit head on, and Ash fell onto on the ground.
"Ash!" Serena cried.
Authors Notes
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, next one will be up soon. I hope you like the cliff hanger there, See you soon.