Authors Notes

Narrator Is in Bold

Warning: Spoilers for anyone not caught up with subbed episodes.

We find our heroes walking towards Snowbelle City, in search of Ash's eighth and final gym badge.

Serena was walking behind the group, she watched as Bonnie played with Squishy and Dedenne, and Ash and Clemont talked about his next gym battle. Serena however, was immersed in her own thoughts. She replayed her last performance in her head, and then Aria's performance that followed. She was sad that she had lossed, but she was more affected by how she believed she had disappointed the people that had put their faith in her to win. Her mom, Shauna, Nini and even Miette had all placed their hopes on her.

Thinking about Miette changed Serena's focus for the moment, especially when she looked up and placed her gaze on the dark-haired boy walking in front of her. Miette was always teasing Serena about her feelings for Ash, or rather his complete lack of awareness of them and his obliviousness to any advances made towards him. Miette had admitted she had her own towards Ash as well, and Serena could hardly blame her, even if it did incite a good amount of jealousy whenever she watched Miette wink or smile in Ash's direction.

"Serena?" Bonnie was poking her in the arm, the group had stopped walking.

"Oh, hey" The performer was caught off guard, she had been lost in her thoughts.

"Is there a place to stay nearby?" Bonnie asked

Serena pulled out her pink Navigator, and looked for a place to stay. "Nothing close" she shook her head.

"Looks like were camping out tonight!" Ash shot his arms up into the air, and let out a relaxing sigh.

"Chaa" Pikachu mimicked his trainer, and let out a yawn.

"I'll make dinner" Clemont announced, while setting up his tent. "Bonnie, can you set up the table?"

"Mhmm" She nodded. "Let's go Squishy, Dedenne, time to eat!"

"Ill make the fire" Ash annouced.

Serena watched as everyone tended to their chores, and decided to set up her tent in the meantime and change into her pajamas. Once she had finished, she set up Ash's tent for him.

"Thanks Serena, that's awesome!" He thanked her, while taking food out of the pot Clemont had prepared.

"Pi!" Pikachu nodded in approval.

"N-No problem" Her face turned a bit red, she hadn't exactly minded doing it.

As the group was sitting eating dinner, Serena began to think about what she wanted to do, now that she was done with performing for a while. She was more than happy to keep traveling with Ash and the others, but she felt she was lacking a goal at the moment. Her train of thought was cut off however, when suddenly a wild Talonflame swept down from the sky and sunk its claws into her tent.

"Ahh!" Serena couldn't help but scream, while grasping the hair in her head.

"Greninja! I choose You!" Ash's Pokeball flew right over her head, and Greninja came flying out.

"Use Water Shuriken!" The water-type obliged, and scared off the wild bird, but nor before it could completely destroy Serena's tent.

"Sorry Serena" Ash was looking down at the ground, as if it had somehow been his fault.

"No, no its okay" The performer tried to reassure Ash, and Greninja who was looking pretty upset as well.

"Wait, but where's Serena gonna sleep tonight?" Bonnie asked the pertinent question, that hadn't yet crossed anyone's mind.

"Uhh..." Clemont looked up, and scratched the back of his head. "I guess Ash and I can share his tent, and Bonnie and Serena can sleep in mine."

"Okay" Ash nodded in approval.

'It was at this moment that Serena could have sworn she saw a sort scheming glint in Bonnie's eye.

"But wait!" the little blonde started to protest, while pulling on Clemont's arm "Big Brother, I can't sleep in the tent without you!"

"Now, Bonnie..." Clemont began his response, but was cut off by Ash.

"That's okay Bonnie, Serena can have my Tent" The black-haired trainer began pulling his sleeping bag out of his tent. "I can sleep outside"

"No, no that's not necessary" Serena finally found herself protesting this arrangement. "If anything I should be sleeping outside."

"Its okay, I'm used to sleeping outside" Ash assured her, while laying out his bag on the ground.

"Or... you could just share it" Bonnie suggested, drawing a blush to both Serena and Clemont's faces.

"B-Bonnie!" Clemont gasped exasperatedly.

"...uh..." Serena's face had turned bright red, at the thought of being alone with Ash, all night.

"If Serena's okay with it... It is a bit small in there though" Ash noted, while looking at the performer for a response.

Bonnie for her part, was elbowing Serena in the arm. "uh...yea, that's okay" Serena managed to say, while barely being able to breathe. Once she had caught her breath, she looked over to the short blonde standing next to her. Bonnie looked up at her and winked, before retiring to her tent.

After Clemont and Bonnie had gone to bed, Ash pulled his sleeping bag back into the tent, and invited Serena to do the same. Luckily, she hadn't unrolled her sleeping bag before the wild Talonflame made off with her tent. The performer, pulled her sleeping bag into the tent, and set it on the side opposite to Ash's.

"It'll be like a sleepover!" Ash proclaimed excitedly, while stripping down to his tanktop and underwear. Serena began to feel warmer, as if the temperature in the tent had just risen significantly, and she wasn't sure if it was because of Ash's upbeat mood or his new attire.

"Pi-ka!" The yellow Pokemon was running around the tent, but stopped and held his arms up in approval.

Serena climbed into her own sleeping bag, and watched as Ash did the same. Once he was in, she watched as Pikachu climbed onto his trainers chest and nuzzled his head under his chin. The performer felt a slight twinge of jealousy as she watched, but mostly she couldn't help but smile. Ash closed his eyes, and seemed to be asleep within minutes. This left Serena alone, in the tent, to her thoughts. She took a deep breath, the entire test smelled like Ash and it only made her feelings more intense. She looked over at the sleeping boy, smiled and closed her eyes. Her dreams were a haze, that mostly involved her and Ash holding hands and dancing, the dance she never got to have at the performers dance party that she had so desperately wanted.

At some point throughout the night, Ash must have moved in his sleep, because Serena woke up with his face just inches from her own and Pikachu squished in between them. Half of her wanted to embarrassingly push Ash away as quickly as possible, and the other wanted to pretend like she was still asleep and make this last as long as possible. However, before Serena could side with either half, Pikachu woke up.

"Pi?" Pikachu asked, while looking up at both Serena and Ash and considering his current position. The Pokemon paused for a moment, and then jumped out from between the two trainers and started jumping on top of Ash.

"Pikapi!" Pikachu continued jumping until Ash had woken up.

"Pikachu, what's going on" Ash sat up, and began rubbing his face. He turned over to look at Serena.

"Uh.." Serena was staring at the space in-between them.

"Oh! Ash jumped up" He immediately began apologizing "Sorry, I must've moved in my sleep"

"No, no no..It's okay" Serena climbed out of her sleeping bag as well. She sat on top of it, as she watched Ash get ready. He threw on his jacket, and pants, slipped on his shoes and was out the door. Serena used the empty tent to get ready, and exited once she had finished changing.

"Breakfast is ready!" Clemont announced while setting plates for the last two of the group to awaken.

"Yay!" Ash began eating without a second thought.

"Sleep well last night?" Bonnie asked, while she sat down next to Serena.

"Uh...yea" The performer's face was turning red again. "So uh, can we head towards the closet town, I need to get a new tent"

"I think there's one a couple of miles ahead" Clemont noted, while pointing the the left.

"Ya, I saw it on my Navigator last night" She pulled out her Navigator, and brought up the town.

"Oh look!" Bonnie pointed at the screen "There's a fashion show here today! Can we go! Please!"

"Yeah, Let's!" Serena immediately agreed, she was looking for a distraction from her thoughts and this was perfect.

The girl's enthusiasm drew less than similar reactions from either of the guys, who were showing a more compliant than excited mood.

And so, our Hero's made their way into town to get Serena a new tent, and to see what the fashion show had in store.

Well, that's my first venture into a Ash x Serena story. Please forgive my Sub-par writing ability.

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