Continuing Where They Left Off

The air was chilled, but relaxingly crisp, and the smell of pine trees wafted through the air. The ground was cold and hard, and you could hear every individual stomp as Ash, Serena, Bonnie, and Clemont marched their way down the path. The Kalos League was over, and it was time for everyone to travel home, but with the regular path closed for construction, they would have to shortcut through the icy biome surrounding Snowbelle City. Ash was clenching onto his winter jacket as the frosty bite of the winds blew by. Pikachu, wearing a special red scarf Serena picked out for him, jumped onto Ash's other shoulder and gave him a warm nuzzle. Ash smiled a bit, but he still had a subtle glum expression. It has been a long week for everyone, Ash had battled hard in the Kalos League, but like every other league he challenged, he lost even though he had worked hard to get there. Bonnie had grown tired of letting the awkward silence make everyone uncomfortable, so she ran up to Ash and said the same thing everyone was wondering.

"Ash," she said snapping Ash out of his trance. He was so lost in his thought, he jumped a little when she came up to him, but he looked down to her as she asked. "Are you alright?" Ash did nothing but smile at her.

"Why wouldn't I be?" He asked with a happy tone.

"Well, I guess we're all just a teensy-bit worried your last battled at the Kalos League hurt you more than you're saying," she said with deep concern in her voice. Denenene! The little mouse Pokémon in her bag chittered in acknowledgment, but all Ash did was give her a happy grin and assure her everything was alright. "But Ash…"

I'm fine," he interrupted. "Really, it takes a lot more than losing a battle to get me down, even if it was at the Pokémon League." Serena pulled out her guidebook and double checked how far they were from their destination.

"Looks like the Pokémon Center should be just over the next hill," she said. Ash took a hearty deep breath and stared straight ahead.

"Great, then let's go!" Ash exclaimed as he ran ahead. He made his way up the hill, but the others didn't race after him like they usually did. He said he was fine, but the truth was everyone could feel Ash's disappointment and were concerned for him, especially Serena. She had a special connection with him that began all those years ago at Professor Oak's Summer Camp; when Ash was happy she was happy, and when Ash was sad she found that she was sad as well. Bonnie and Clemont didn't have the same connection, but they were all still quite close and could feel the same sadness she felt emitting from Ash. Though, it wasn't just the feeling he wasn't getting any better, Ash felt the same thing everyone else had been feeling since they got to the Kalos League. Their journey together was nearly over, and after the League, they would all have to go their separate ways. Now that all was said and done, they were trying not to think about what was coming up next, but it was pointless. There was only one path for them to take before they would all have to split up, and they weren't happy about it.

***5 Minutes Later***

The Pokémon Center door opened with a warm breeze that helped them out of the cold weather. Seeing familiar faces in Nurse Joy and Wigglytuff as they took off their heavy winter wear, they tried to make the best of things, as not to spread their sadness to everyone else at the Pokémon Center. Serena, however, couldn't change her expression so easily. What she was feeling may have made splitting up harder for her than everyone else. She hadn't seen Ash for years and splitting up so soon after so long apart made her feel miserable, and her lingering feelings for Ash certainly didn't help. As she looked down at the floor, worried about what to do next, a familiar voice made her lose her train of thought.

"Hey, you guys!" She looked up and saw Shauna and Sawyer running up to all of them in heavy duty snow coats. Serena couldn't help but smile when she saw and ran to meet them.

"Hey!" She squealed. Everyone always smiled when they were able to meet up with good friends, but for everyone, there was always that one friend who could always help you out of your gloomy mood: for Serena that was Shauna, and for Ash that was Sawyer. "I can't believe it's you two!"

"Well, it is!" Shauna said excitedly. "It's been a really long time."

"And, even though I just saw you guys recently at the Kalos League, that doesn't change the fact that it's really good to see you all," Sawyer said with a smile.

"You got that right!" Ash heartily concurred. "What are the odds we'd all meet up here?"

"If I had to say," Clemont began. "The fact that all of our homes reside in the same general vicinity, and that there's construction going on down the only other path from the Pokemon League that'll take us there until they all diverge, makes it almost dead certain. The only thing I can't figure out is, how do the two of you know each other?" Clemont made and good point and that made everyone else wonder the same thing since they weren't all together when it happened.

"Shauna and I actually met a while back after I went ahead of you guys to the League," Sawyer explained. "I bumped into her at the Pokémon Center and recognized her from the showcase on TV, she was amazing."

"After that, we chatted for a while, and then we just kinda started traveling together," Shauna continued. "But, then later we ran into Tierny and Trevs, and I got pulled away for a while."

"She wanted to catch up with her friends, but we agreed to meet up again after the Pokémon League," Sawyer finished. "And, we've decided we're going to start a new journey together. Since neither of us could win this time, we're gonna try and help each other out, and I know we'll both win next time." Everyone else smiled at the idea, it was fun to think of where they would be going next, and it kept their minds off of their own troubles.

"I've been practicing like crazy since the last time Serena," Shauna said excitedly. "I'll bet you've been practicing a whole lot for the next time too!" Serena's expression quickly changed and she felt a little awkward.

"Um, well," she started. "The truth is, I haven't given the next time much thought. I've just been enjoying this next part of my journey with Ash… And Bonnie and Clemont!" Serena blushed a little from her mistake, and even though it couldn't be seen, Ash blushed a bit too. Serena tried to find something to take away the awkwardness, and then suddenly noticed there were only 5 of them. "Um, hey guys where did Bonnie go?" Everyone looked around to see Bonnie was gone, that is until Sawyer pointed her out down the hall. Bonnie had her heart set on finding a wife for her big brother, and one by one she was proposing to every girl in sight trying to get him engaged by this evening. Clemont's face turned a fiery red in humiliation, in spite of every time he lectured her not to interfere with his love life, she still kept trying to hook him up with total strangers.

"Oh no, Bonnie I told you to stop this!" He called out to her in a panic, but she didn't listen. She just kept jumping from girl to girl, which simply made Clemont's face even redder. "MMMMMGH! I need to stop her, I'll see you guys later!" Clemont ran faster than he ever had before, without stopping to rest once. Truly his fear of embarrassment by his baby sister was more than he could bear. Everyone gave a look of good grief as they saw him run after her.

"Well, if those two are busy, this'll be the perfect time for us to catch up," Shauna said as she grabbed Serena's arm. "Come on, there's a café here that makes the most delicious cup of milky cocoa you'll find anywhere!" Serena smiled at the idea of a rich cup of hot chocolate with biscotti to help her warm up. The two of them ran down to the café without a care in the world, leaving Ash and Sawyer by themselves.

"Guess that leaves us," Ash said stating the obvious. "Since Pikachu and I haven't got anywhere to go until Nurse Joy takes care of the others, whaddya say we go out into the courtyard and have a battle?!" Even as upset as he was now, Ash could always find the energy to battle, and that just put Sawyer in the mood to do the same.

"You're on!" Sawyer said in excitement. The two of them rushed down to the back of the Center where the battlefield was, more pumped than they had been since the league.