Ash was standing on the balcony of the Pokémon Centre he was staring at the sunset, it was the last one he would see whilst he was seventeen. The others had already gone to sleep, they wanted to get up early to try and make it to Lumiose City tomorrow. As Ash stared at the horizon and the sinking star in the sky he thought of his journey so far. In his mind he went through all the places he'd visited ,the people that he had met and the Pokémon he had seen and caught since starting his journey. Then he thought of all his friends; Brock in Pewter City, Misty running the Cerulean Gym , May exploring the world with Drew as the both trained to become top Pokémon co-ordinators. Dawn doing the same in the Johto region, Iris becoming the queen of dragons who would eventually take over the Opelucid gym and of course Cilan who was going to become the best connoisseur in the world. Then he thought of his current companions; Clemont and Bonnie are great they were fun and very energetic, well at least Bonnie was energetic. Then he thought of Serena, he knew he should tell her how he felt but when he thought about doing it he was more afraid than when he thought Arceus, the god of Pokémon would die before his very eyes. Although he was scared he was thinking that if she did like him then that would be the best thing in the world. As Ash returned to his and Clemont's room he realised for the first time in his life, he wanted something more than he wanted to become the best Pokémon trainer in the world.
Unknown to Ash, Serena did feel the same way and as she slept in the room she shared with Bonnie she dreamt of being with Ash. They were lying on a beach alone in some part of Kalos; she rested her head on his chest as he ran his hands through her long honey-coloured hair.
"I want this to last for ever, Ash" Serena said to her crush.
"That can happen Serena" Dream Ash said "You just need to tell me how you feel."
"You know how I feel silly." Serena replied giggling slightly as she did so.
"Not me Serena. Real me, the one sleeping next door he's the one you need to tell." Dream Ash told her in a suddenly very serious tone.
"But I'm… I'm scared" Serena confessed.
"Scared of what?" As Dream Ash was talking he sat up so he could look her in the eyes.
"Scared that you'll reject me and then it will be too hard for me to continue travelling with you."
"Well, you can't continue like this you need to tell me." Dream Ash told her wiping away the tear that was running down her check that she didn't even know about.
"Okay" Serena gave in and promised that she would tell Ash, real Ash how she felt soon.
After this they couple went back to what they were doing before just lying on the beach, enjoying the sun and being together.
The next morning they were all woken up by an explosion from outside. Ash looked across the room to see Clemont's bed empty which meant that he was the most likely cause of the explosion. One of his inventions had failed. Pikachu was still asleep at the end of Ash's bed. He walked into the hallway of the Pokémon centre where he saw Serena and Bonnie poking their heads out of the room they shared. Ash spotted that Bonnie was wearing her trademark Tyrantum pyjamas and Serena was wearing a nighty that fitted her figure beautifully. Serena noticed her crush and snuck a look at him he was bare chested and had his hair all scruffy, just the way she liked it. The two of them noticed that they were staring at each other and quickly looked away.
"Ash is Clemont with you?" Bonnie asked.
"No, he's not in our room." Ash replied.
"So then it was probably him outside" Serena stated.
"Probably, my brother really needs to try and get his inventions to be less explosioney." Bonnie mocked.
"Let's get dressed quickly then go see him outside." Ash suggested
"Okay." The girls replied simultaneously.
Ash was the fastest to dress as always and ran outside to check on his friend. Clemont was a brilliant inventor but as Bonnie said; his inventions had a small tendency blow up. So Clemont was prepared for it so Ash knew that the gym leader would be fine.
"Morning Clemont" Ash greeted his friend as he walked out onto the battle area of the Pokémon Centre, as expected Clemont was leaning over a pile of metal that was apparently all that was left of Clemont's latest experiment, he had his partner Heliolisk beside him.
"Oh, hey Ash. Did the explosion wake you?" He asked
"Yeah but it was about time to get up anyway" He replied not wanting to make his friend feel guilty.
"CLEMONT! YOU WOKE ME UP" Bonnie shouted at her brother as she ran into the yard. Serena was a few seconds after her, wearing her favourite outfit, the tank top, skirt and hat she was wearing when Ash first met her in the Kalos region.
"Sorry, Bonnie. It was an accident, I made a training bot for my Pokémon to practise on but it wasn't as strong as I hoped. Bunnelby and Heliolisk were practising on it when Heliolisk used a Parabolic Charge attack the bot went into overload and exploded"
"Lisk" Heliolisk admitted obviously guilty about ruining the bot.
"So did you put Bunnelby back in its Pokeball?" Serena asked.
"No, he's right…" Clemont said looking for his Pokémon "Where is he?"
"Maybe the explosion scared him and he ran away?" Serena suggested.
"I guess that could have happened." Clemont said. "We need to look for him."
"Agreed." Said Serena.
Ash suddenly remembered that it was his birthday he needed to call his Mom back in Pallet Town.
"I'll help but I need to make a quick call first." Ash told his friends then ran back into the Pokémon Centre to use the video phones.
His Mom picked up straight away.
"Hello sweetie. Happy birthday." Ash's Mom greeted him lovingly as she always did.
"Thanks Mom" Ash said politely "Sorry, but I can't talk long. Clemont has lost one of his Pokémon." Ash briefly explained the situation to his mother who understood completely.
"But quickly, Ash now you're eighteen I think you should be in control of your money completely."
"What do you mean Mom?" Ash asked slightly confused
"You don't know. Strange. Well on your travels all the accolades and trophies you have won also come with cash prizes and so you have amassed quite the small fortune."
"Really, that's so awesome." Ash couldn't believe it. Until know he had only been concerned about the status that comes with winning tournament but as he thought more about it he realised that with all he had won it makes sense that he would have money in the bank.
"Wait why didn't I know about this before?" Ash asked his Mom.
"Well, all trainers under the age of sixteen must have an adult looking after their money and you never asked about it so I kept looking after it for you."
"Oh, thanks Mom. Now I really have to go and help my friends."
"Okay honey, enjoy your birthday. Bye, love you."
"Love you Mom, bye." Ash turned off the monitor ending the call. When he returned to the he only saw Serena and her Braixen, the girl he loved was stroking the fire type's hair to make it look better.
"Where are Clemont and Bonnie?" Ash asked.
"They were getting restless so I told them to go ahead and that I would wait for you." Serena replied, she had an ulterior motive however she wanted the privacy to tell Ash how she felt.
"Gee, thanks." Ash spoke as calmly as he could but the thought of being alone with Serena made him far more nervous than it should, he could already feel his heart start to beat faster and his palms starting to sweat.
"We should get going. Bunnelby isn't going to find himself." Serena said to regain Ash's focus.
"Good idea." Ash responded.
Serena put Braixen back in its Pokeball then the two trainers went into the woods that were behind the Pokémon Centre in search of Clemont's Pokémon.
"Serena?" Ash asked
"Yes Ash?"
"Why did you wait till you were seventeen to start you adventure?" Ash had been wondering this for a while.
"Well, I guess that my mom was trying to push me into Rhyhorn racing for the last few years and before that I guess the idea of going out on an adventure on my own was just too daunting." This was only partly true. Serena had never been that interested in an adventure until she heard Ash say in an interview when he was challenging for the Unova league that afterward he would travel to Kalos then she was determined to find the boy she met at camp. The boy she had a crush on since he helped her not be afraid and taught her never to give up.
They entered a small clearing in the woods, the sunlight was gleaming and as Ash followed Serena into the clearing he noticed how the light made her honey-coloured hair look as beautiful as Ho-oh's wings and he knew this was the time, he was going to tell Serena here. He took her hand in his.
"What is it Ash, did you find Bunnelby?" Serena asked slightly confused by his actions.
"Serena, there's… there's something I need to talk to you about." Ash told her.
"Well there's actually something I wanted to tell you." Serena replied trying to act calm and not give away what she was thinking. "You first." She told him.
"Well it's just that, throughout my adventures around the world I'm never met anyone like you someone who's so beautiful, kind, supportive and intelligent. You're the best Serena."
Serena couldn't believe what she was hearing but she tried to act as composed as she could when she replied "Ash that's very flattering but why are you saying this?"
"I'm in love with you." As he gave her a moment to absorb what he had said Ash noticed a tear running down her cheek and he was afraid he had messed everything up "Is something wrong?"
This was the best news in the world and she almost forgot that he had asked her a question. "No… no Ash everything's perfect, I love you too."
Ash placed both hands on the face of the woman he loved, wiping the tear away and another that had formed on the other cheek. He brought her face close to his and the two lovers closed as their lips touched and the two both felt a rush of adrenaline, but mostly they felt relieved, relieved that they were together. Suddenly Serena pulled back.
"What's the matter?" Ash asked concerned.
"It's just that we should really being helping Clemont search for Bunnelby" Serena replied
"You're right." Ash told her. As the two were about to restart their search Ash had an idea. "Or I could get Talonflame to search for us."
"Great plan. He'll probably be faster anyway." Serena answered quickly eager to get back to kissing.
"My thoughts exactly. Talonflame I need your help." As threw his Pokeball into the air releasing the fire bird.
"Flame." The bird roared.
"Talonflame I need you to look for Clemont's Bunnelby." Ash told his Pokémon. The bird nodded and gave a small grunt to indicate he understood, then it flew away. Once gone the two resumed kissing then they hugged. They'd hugged before but this was different it wasn't just a hug, it was holding the most important person in each of their lives as close as possible.
Serena eventually broke their tranquil moment by asking "Ash, why did you tell me how you feel now?"
"Well it's eight years to the day since I set out on my adventure and yesterday evening I was thinking about every moment of it and my ultimate goal of becoming a Pokémon master and then I realised that I wanted something more than that… I wanted you."
"That's very romantic talk for someone who didn't even remember me when we first saw each other again." Serena said jokingly. When she saw the face Ash made as he struggled to find an answer she told him "It's okay, it was a long time ago I've forgiven you."
"You have? Well that's good news. I tell you what when we get to Lumiose city I'll take you all the boutiques you want and you can have all the new clothes you want."
Serena was suspicious of this so she asked him "Since when do you have the money to buy me whatever I want?"
"Since this morning actually. My mom thought seeing as I've turned eighteen now I should control all my money."
"It's your birthday. Why didn't you say anything?" Even though she couldn't have known she felt guilty for not having something for him on his birthday.
"Well I wanted to get to Lumiose City and challenge Clemont… or Clembot at the gym before I thought about my birthday."
Serena smiled as she gazed into the eyes of the man she loved.
"What?" Ash asked unsure if there was anything in particular she was smiling at.
"I love that about you, your sheer determination. That was the first thing you taught me way back when we were kids." She pulled him close and ran her hands through his jet black hair and she kissed him with great passion, he kissed her back with the same intensity, as he did so he kept one hand on her lower back and used the other to hold her head and gently moved it through her beautiful honey coloured hair to meet his other. The moment was ruined when they heard someone clearing their throat behind them. They quickly broke the kiss and turned round to see Clemont and Bonnie staring at them with Clemont's Bunnelby at his feet and Ash's Talonflame flying above them.
"Oh…hey…guys." Ash said sounding like he'd been caught doing something far worse than kissing his gorgeous friend, whilst doing so he recalled Talonflame back to its Pokeball.
"This is AMAZING!" Bonnie shouted.
"It is?" Ash, Serena and Clemont said simultaneously all as confused as each other.
"Yeah of course. You two have been staring at each other since the last time we were in Lumiose City."
"We weren't that obvious." Ash protested.
"No, it wasn't as obvious that you liked her until around the time we were in Shalour City, but almost from the moment she met you it's been obvious that she likes you." Bonnie lectured the couple.
"Uh, Bonnie I think we should go back to the Pokémon centre and let these two have some alone time before we head off to Lumiose City." Clemont suggested to her sister.
"Hey Clemont, about that I thought it would be better if we stayed here today and then headed out first thing tomorrow. Then we wouldn't have to camp out." Ash told his friends.
"Okay, good idea Ash." Clemont agreed. "Let's go Bonnie." The gym leader said as he ushered his sister out of the clearing. As he walked past the couple he leaned over. "Hey guys do you want me to swap with Serena for tonight to give you some privacy." He suggested.
"Would you that would be so great, thank you Clemont." Serena gave her reply in her usual polite manor.
"No problem guys." With that Clemont and Bonnie left the couple to be alone in the clearing.
At this moment Serena remembered her dream, she remembered the peace of the moment. She wanted that moment. She lied down and Ash soon did the same, she rested her head on his chest just as she was doing in the dream. The two of them spent the next few hours talking and kissing. Serena broke the cycle just before noon.
"I'm very hungry." She told her boyfriend as she sat up to talk to Ash properly.
"Hey, I just realised we haven't had breakfast today." Ash noticed.
"Wow, did Ash Ketchum forget about food?" Serena jibed.
"Hey, I've had a lot more appealing things to do than eat." Ash said as he kissed the woman he loved.
"I guess we should go back to the Pokémon centre for some food." Serena suggested, sad that she would have to leave the beautiful place where her world had become a lot better.
"Not necessarily." Ash told her, sensing that she didn't want to leave. Ash released all his Pokémon. Serena saw Talonflame rise into the air, Frogadier leant against a tree and Hawlucha nestled itself on a branch of a nearby tree.
"Ash where's Pikachu?" Serena asked.
"He was asleep when I left and after yesterday and the fact that he needs all his strength for when I battle at the gym so I let him sleep in." Ash realised that his partner may be worried about him then he remembered that he would just end up spending the day with Clemont, Bonnie and Dedenne.
"Okay, smart thinking."
"Hey guys could you help us out by grabbing some berries for lunch?" Ash asked his Pokémon. An assortment of nods and grunts showed they all understood.
"Hey it's not fair that it's only your Pokémon. Allow us to help out too." Serena released her Braixen, Litleo and Noibat. "Hey, everybody can you gather some berries for lunch?" Like Ash's Pokémon hers all gave nods and grunts.
With everyone's help there were enough berries to feed people and Pokémon. After lunch Ash and Serena wandered through the woods hand-in-hand while Ash told Serena about his adventures, she was particularly interested in Hoenn.
"Wait so the gym leader wouldn't battle you because he wanted to go surfing instead?" Serena asked when Ash told her about Brawly and his second Hoenn badge.
"Pretty much yeah."
"But I thought a gym leader always had to accept their opponents challenge?"
"Usually that's true but there's no rule about when the battle has to take place, also if the gym leader believes the challenger is too weak for the gym he or she can decline the challenge."
Serena stopped and looked at him as she said "Ash, I want to see all these places, if it wouldn't be too repetitive for you would you see them again, with me?" Serena asked him.
Ash stared into her eyes, kissed her forehead and told her with his signature bravado "Serena, if you want to travel the world, there is nothing on this earth that will stop me from being with you every step of the way."
"Ash, I love you so much." Serena said, tearing up as she did so.
"I love you too." As he said it he wiped the tear away and kissed her on the lips for a long time then broke away to say "I think Bonnie and Clemont will start to attack each other if we stay out any longer."
"You're right, let's head back to the Pokémon Centre."
They got back to find Clemont working on a machine while Bonnie, Dedenne and Pikachu were all watching him from a table. When he spotted his trainer Pikachu ran towards Ash and jumped up onto his shoulder.
"Hey buddy, I hope you had a good day with Bonnie and Dedenne." Ash asked his faithful friend.
"Pika, Pikachu" Pikachu said with a smile showing everyone he was fine with how his day had gone.
Soon after the group had dinner, Clemont made a terrific stew using his Clemontic gear. Serena told the siblings that it was Ash's birthday, which although he originally wanted to keep it a secret he was fine with them knowing. They all agreed that they would celebrate properly when they got to Lumiose City.
Serena was the first to yawn and soon the whole group realised how tired they were. "We should probably get an early night seeing as we have an early start tomorrow." She told the group.
"You're right we should all get some shut eye." Ash agreed. Then Serena led Ash upstairs to the room they shared for the night. After they got changed Ash and Serena got into bed and as the Ash turned the lights off he heard Serena say "I love you Ash."
"I love you to Serena." Ash replied. The couple soon fell asleep in each other's arms.