Chapter 4-
Ash turned to Gary as he hung up the receiver. He was having mixed emotions of either wanting to punch the smirking brunette or kiss him.
"Well?"
"We're going to meet outside at the gazebo in ten minutes."
"You need to put some pants on then, bro!" Gary exclaimed, running to their bags and starting to throw things at Ash.
In the end, Gary made him put on dark blue jeans with a black button down shirt. He purposely forced him to keep the first three buttons undone to show off some of his chest. He hid Ash's hat from him to force him to go out with his disheveled hair. According to him, he looked like what girls always said was "Sex on legs". It wasn't what Ash was going for, but Gary insisted.
"Well, come on buddy." Ash knelt down to let Pikachu jump on him, to which Gary intercepted and grabbed the Pokemon before he could get to his shoulder.
"What do you think you're doing?" Gary scoffed. "You can't just show up with Pikachu here on your shoulder. You've gotta fly solo on this one, Ashy boy."
Ash groaned. "Why are you doing this to me?"
"Dude, this is the girl you've been talking about for the last six years now. She kissed you the last time you saw each other. Now it's your turn for payback. Never ever leave things open like that."
Ash scratched the back of his head. "Yeah... I guess you have a point. You have more experience with girls than I do, that's for sure."
"See? Now, get your ass in gear and don't come back until you paid her back for leaving you with a last minute kiss." Gary said as he opened the door and pushed the trainer out.
A few minutes later he was sitting under the gazebo in the light of a few dim outdoor fixtures, with his hands in his pocket. There was a nice slight breeze to the air. A good night to be reunited with Serena, for sure.
Serena, on the other hand, had caught a glimpse of Ash from the hotel exit out to the gazebo. She had to talk herself up to even putting her hand on the latch to let her outside. She had no clue what she was doing this time at night, having a chance encounter with him.
Ash looked up at the sound of the door, making her legs move forward out into the open air. She swallowed hard when their eyes met each other.
Serena only had on a simple black dress with a light jacket covering her shoulders. Her hair was moving slightly with the breeze around them, and the light makeup she had on her face highlighted the pleasant features of her face.
"Hey." Ash breathed out, and slightly opened his arms for a hug.
Serena quickly ran to him and hugged him tight. "Hey."
They embraced for a few moments, and finally let go when they realized just how intimate they would probably look to anyone that passed by. It was a public area, after all.
"So... How have you been?" Serena asked, tucking some hair behind her ears.
"I've been great." Ash gave her a huge smile. "What about you? You said you had a long story for me to hear."
"Well... Where do you want me to begin?" Serena giggled as they sat down next to each other on one of the benches.
"I want to hear about everything." Ash answered. "Your time in Hoenn. The times you competed. Your family. I want to know it all."
Serena smiled and nodded. "Okay... Well, Hoenn was great. I spent almost a year there. It was so beautiful there, and I learned so much."
"I told you that you would like it there." Ash smirked.
"What was Alola like for you? Didn't you tell me you were going to a school there?" Serena asked.
"Oh, yeah! It was an awesome experience for sure!" Ash beamed. "I learned about these things called Z moves and there were all sorts of new Pokemon I had never seen before. There were even some that they called regional variations of Pokemon that we have in our regions that are totally different types."
"I know about them. I met a few when I went on tour in the Alola Region. I even caught a vulpix."
"Wow! That's so awesome! I can't wait to meet it."
"Speaking of Pokemon..." Serena began, looking around them. "Where's Pikachu?"
"Oh, he was already asleep when I called you. He's up in the room with my friend right now." Ash scratched the back of his head, nervously looking away.
"And you don't have a hat on, now." Serena giggled at his nervous tick. "You sure have grown up, haven't you Ash?"
"I wouldn't say I really have..." Ash laughed nervously. "I just forgot my hat tonight is all."
"I see." Serena smiled. "So how long will you been in Kalos for?"
Ash shrugged. "I'm not sure. I told my friend that I would bring him here to study the Pokemon, and introduce him to all of the people I met my first time here."
"Oh... Okay." Serena nodded.
"What about you? Someone said that you were taking a break from performing."
"Yeah. I decided that I needed to get back to my roots. My dad kind of helped me with that."
"About that, what's the deal with that? I thought your dad wasn't around."
"Well, you see, a few weeks after things settled down here and I had gone off to Hoenn, my mom called me and said that my dad had gotten in touch with her. She explained to me their relationship, and how he was. I was a little upset at first, that he would try to be a part of my life after so long, especially since he had a new family. Then I realized that there was no point in being angry with him. I took a step back and thought about what I really wanted. I decided that I was going to meet him when I came back for the holidays.
After I met him, I decided that I would meet him again the next time I came back to Kalos. I just took it one visit at a time until I was ready to meet his family. It turned out that they owned an eevee farm. It's such a fun and beautiful place. I'll have to take you there sometime."
The notion of meeting Serena's father kind of made Ash's throat dry. He had met her mother plenty of times before when he first came to Kalos, but he thought of the many stories of how dads were very protective of their daughters, and that actually shook him a little bit.
"That's cool. I'd like to see it, too. What was it like getting to go there for the first time?"
"It was awkward at first." Serena giggled. "He warned me that I had younger sisters that were six and seven at the time. He said that they were reserved for the most part, but it was a little harder for Sophia, the older one, to accept me."
"You said that you traveled to Lumiose with them, right?"
"Yeah." Serena nodded. "I took Sophia to get her starter Pokemon today, then we went to the Gym and met up with Bonnie and Clemont, ate dinner, and now we're here."
"So, they just started their first journey then? That must be exciting for them."
"Sophia is just ready to do some battling. She's been telling Bonnie that she challenges her to a Gym battle over and over everytime she sees her."
"Wait. Bonnie?" Ash stared at Serena with his mouth agape. "Little Bonnie is the Gym Leader now?"
"Yeah, and she's pretty amazing. We only caught the end of a battle earlier, but her and Dedenne have both gotten pretty strong."
"Wow... I've missed a whole lot, haven't I?"
"Just a little bit. The things you couldn't see on TV, I guess." Serena giggled. "I never did get to thank you for writing to me after I won Kalos Queen the first time. I've just been so busy, I could never get your contact information."
"Oh... Yeah." Ash said, suddenly taking interest in the night sky and rubbing under his nose. He was trying to hide his blush. "It was no big deal, really."
The two sat in awkward silence for a while.
"Ash... I should really apologize to you." Serena finally spoke.
"Apologize?" Ash looked at her confused. "What for?"
"The way I left. It was really selfish of me to kiss and run like that." Serena felt her face heat up.
"N-no! It's okay." Ash scratched the back of his head. "It caught me off guard at first, but I really didn't mind it..." In fact, he really liked it. That's why he wasn't so flustered when she initially kissed him for the first time.
When he thought about it, however, he realized just how much he liked Serena the whole time they had been traveling together. It was different for him. Like she woke something in him. No other girl really gave him that feeling. Not even in Alola, which was also considered one of the most romantic places to be in the world. Many people chose to get married there or a reason, after all.
"You know... I really looked forward to seeing you when we decided to make the trip to Kalos." Ash admitted. "I did a lot of thinking for the last few years. I did a lot of living and yet, no matter the time I spent away, I always found myself thinking about my time spent here... About my time with you."
Serena's face heated up at his words. "What do you mean by that?"
"You see, Serena, the day we parted ways after you kissed me like that... I don't know. I just realized just how much I felt the same way about you." He slowly met her eyes, wondering how she was reacting to his confession. To his surprise, she had frozen with her face a dark shade of red. "Are you okay, Serena?"
"Y-yeah. It's just... I wasn't expecting you to say things like that outright."
Ash scratched the back of his head. "Well, I wasn't expecting you to kiss me outright, so I guess this would be considered payback."
Serena giggled. "Oh really? I would think that your kind of payback would be to kiss me when I didn't have a clue when-"
Ash cut her off with his lips and quickly pulled back, looking away from her with an equally red face as she had.
"You were going to get me back." Serena finished her sentence, her mind foggy at his actions.
"Ash... Do that again." Serena whispered after a few moments. She almost thought he didn't hear her until he turned fully to her and looked at her in the eyes before bringing his lips back down to hers for a longer kiss. This time, she had the chance to return the kiss rather than him pull away too quickly. This was the kiss with Ash that she had always imagined. Not the first or second kisses that they shared, which had seemed to be mostly because of a hurried confession on Serena's part. If it weren't for the escalator taking her to the gate of her plane, though, she's sure it would have been much longer. Probably to the point that she really would have missed her flight. She probably would have gone to Pallet Town with him because of it. He did offer for her to go with him after all.
Or was that just to hang out for the rest of that day? Only Ash could answer that, but it was also in the past.
This, though... This was real and in the moment. Serena had no clue what to do except attack his lips with her own. It was like because they didn't have Pokemon with them to battle, the two trainers chose to battle with their mouths in their stead.
In a way, the clumsy way that Ash kissed her relieved Serena. The last few years they had spent apart left her wondering if he had ever kissed or been involved with anyone on his other journeys. His kisses answered all of her inner questions she ever had.
Ash on the other hand was having sensory overload. Serena smelled amazing, her skin was so soft, and he couldn't stop staring at her when they would break apart for air. His mind was completely blank. He was happy that Gary forced him to call her room and talk to her. He was ecstatic that she was allowing him to kiss her as freely as he was. It was as if it was fate that they were in Lumiose City at the same time for a reason. In the same hotel no less.
They finally stopped after Serena felt her lips begin to swell. She knew she couldn't go back into her room for her sisters to notice something like that. It wouldn't make her look like the responsible adult her father made her out to be when he and Mira entrusted her with their care.
"What's wrong?" Ash looked at her, confused. She had been so into what they were doing just a moment before.
"It's just... My sisters are a lot younger than I am. I should make sure that I don't go back to my room looking like I just had a heated make out session." Serena blushed.
"But you just did." Ash chuckled and smirked down at her.
"I wasn't expecting to..." The performer looked a little embarrassed. "I did enjoy it while it lasted, though."
Ash felt a little bubble of pride swell up in his chest. "Yeah, me too."
Serena looked down at her watch. It was nearing midnight at this point.
"What's up? Do you have a date or something?" Ash teased.
"It's not that." Serena playfully hit his shoulder. "It's just getting late, and I promised Bonnie that we would meet her after breakfast tomorrow so Sophia could do some training."
"It's so nice of you to teach them how to perform." Ash smiled in understanding.
"I'm teaching Sarah, my youngest sister, how to perform." Serena corrected his assumption. "Sophia wants to compete in the League."
That peaked Ash's interest. "In that case... Mind if Gary and I come watch? I'm sure that there will be Pokemon he'd like to see, and I haven't seen Bonnie in a long while."
"I would think that there was something wrong with you if you didn't ask." Serena giggled. "But sure, I'm positive Bonnie will be ecstatic to see your face tomorrow."
"In that case, how about we all meet for breakfast down here in the morning?" Ash offered. "I'll buy."
Serena laughed. "Very funny. You and I both know that it's free."
Ash shrugged and laughed at his own bad joke. "Either way, let's all have breakfast. You, me, Gary, and your sisters."
Serena nodded. "Okay, I'd like that."
The two got up from the bench and walked back inside to the elevators.
"So... About what just happened." Serena nervously tucked her hair behind her ear as they stepped into the elevator and pressed the buttons corresponding to the floors they were staying on. "It's just between us, right? I mean for now, at least."
Ash chuckled and nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine with that. No one has to know."
"Okay." Serena smiled to herself and brought her hand to her lips. Ash removed it as the doors opened to his floor, and he stole another quick kiss and winked at her before leaving her side.
"I'll see you in the morning, Serena."
"Uhuh." She squeaked out, feeling her face heat up again.
That man is going to be the death of me one of these days. Was all she could think as the doors closed and the elevator began to rise again.
The next morning, Serena and her sisters were each getting ready to go downstairs in their own respective sections of their room. Serena was in front of the vanity applying her makeup, Sophia was in the bathroom with her music turned up to full volume, and Sarah sat on one of the beds trying to do makeup similar to Serena.
Serena turned around and saw how uneven and messy Sarah had contoured her face, and tried to stifle a laugh. "Oh no, sweetie, come here."
Sarah sighed in defeat and pulled up one of the chairs from the desk to the vanity that Serena was at.
Serena took a wipe and cleaned all of the makeup off of her sister's face. "Why didn't you just ask for some help? You know I would have."
Serena grabbed a headband from her kit to hold Sarah's hair back. They both giggled when they looked at themselves in the mirror. The headbands they wore had skitty and delcaty ears on the top of them.
"First, you should always do this to keep your makeup and hair mixing with each other." Serena explained. "Even though your hair is light, it would still look all dirty and unpresentable."
"Oh..." Sarah nodded, hanging on every word of Serena's instructions.
"Then, you put primer on to help your makeup look more natural and stay longer on your face." Serena continued as she put a clear liquid on her sister's face. Once it dried, she put on the foundation and showed her how to properly contour. When they finished, Serena turned Sarah to look in the mirror. Her eyes widened when she saw just exactly how much she and her oldest sister really did look alike. Especially with similar makeup like they had.
"Looks a lot better now, huh?" Serena smiled and patted her sister on the back.
Sarah nodded and gave Serena a big smile. "Thank you."
When Sophia finally came out of the bathroom, she released a ton of steam through the door that fogged up the mirror of the vanity.
"Do you bathe with anything other than hot water?" Serena sighed, clearing some of the fog so she could finish her makeup.
"I like hot showers, kill me for it." Sophia stated sarcastically as she pulled her jeans on. "So, you said we were meeting a friend of yours for breakfast. Is that why you're caking on the beauty stuff today?"
Serena dropped her eyeliner and shot Sophia a look. "For your information, I normally do my makeup like this."
"She's getting all defensive, Sarbear." Sophia smirked. "Looks like I was right about last night."
"Right about what?" Serena narrowed her eyes.
"You met with a guy last night, didn't you?"
Serena swallowed hard. "He's just a friend. I promise."
"Okay, whatever you say~" Sophia teased as she pulled a purple t-shirt over hear head.
The three girls finished getting ready and went downstairs to the breakfast buffet where two men were hanging around the entryway.
"Serena, over here." Ash waved her and her sisters over to where he and Gary were standing.
Pikachu's ears perked up when he saw Serena come into the room. He raced over to her and jumped into her arms. "Pikaaa!"
"Hey there, Pikachu." Serena giggled and pet his ears. "Sorry, I hope you guys didn't wait for too long." Serena apologized as they approached. "Ash these are my sisters, Sophia and Sarah. Sophia and Sarah, this is a really good friend of mine, Ash."
The two girls were staring at the guy next to Ash however. "Stalker junk food guy." They spoke in unison as they pointed at Gary.
"Wh-what?" Gary's eyes widened. "Why would you call me that?"
"It's fitting." Ash stated with a laugh. "This is Gary. He and I grew up together in Pallet Town. He's studying to be a Pokemon professor."
"It's nice to meet you, Gary." Serena smiled, letting Pikachu go back to his place on Ash's shoulder.
"What do you guys say we grab a plate and dig in?" Ash suggested. "I've been trying to hold myself back all morning."
"Okay." Serena nodded and they all followed him through the buffet line.
Once seated, Ash told the group how he and Serena first met when they were younger. Sophia nudged Serena's arm as he spoke and gave her a knowing smirk, to which Serena replied with a hard kick.
Sophia glared at her in response, all the while the other three had not noticed the two sister's actions.
When they finished, the group made their way out of the hotel and walked to the park across from Lumiose Tower.
"So, what Pokemon did you decide on?" Ash asked the two girls as they walked.
"I chose a froakie that I named Gensuke." Sophia answered. "Sarah didn't want to choose one because she already has a full team, plus the egg she has in her backpack she's been so determined to hatch."
"I thought you were beginners." Ash looked to Sarah, surprised that she already had a full team.
"We are... But we grew up raising eevee and their evolutions." Sarah explained. "I brought my eeveelutions along with me. Well... Most of them, anyway."
"Is the egg an eevee egg?" Ash asked out of curiosity.
"Uhuh." Sarah nodded. "My Espeon and Umbreon made it, and I wanted to raise my first eevee completely on my own while we are traveling."
"That sounds awesome." Ash stated, awed by the thought of raising an egg that two of his own Pokemon made together.
"Mind if I take a look at it when we get to the park?" Gary asked. "I'm curious to see if the incubation process in Kalos varies from that of the other regions I've visited."
"Okay." Sarah nodded.
"So, how are you planning on training today, Sophia?" Serena asked her sister.
"Well, usually at home, I make my Pokemon fight with each other. Uriel is probably too strong to use against Gensuke, though." She sighed. "I was honestly hoping that you might have an idea."
"Well... My Vulpix is the least experienced Pokemon in my team, but I'm afraid that its not ready to fight yet." Serena sighed. "Maybe Bonnie brought some of her newer Pokemon with her."
"I hope so. If not, you're going to have to take me to get another Pokemon." Sophia sighed as she looked down at her froakie's pokeball.
"Have you ever caught a Pokemon on your own before?" Ash asked.
"No... They've always been given to me." Sophia admitted.
"Man, you don't know what you're missing then." Gary smirked. "The fun in getting Pokemon in the wild is the thrill of the battle!"
"I just feel bad that they would get suddenly attacked like that." Sarah frowned.
"I think it sounds pretty cool." Sophia grinned. "I can't wait to catch them on my own."
"Your sisters are polar opposites, aren't they?" Ash asked, looking to Serena who just nodded in response.
"There you guys are!" The cheerful Bonnie greeted as they made their way to the small battlefield in the middle of the park.
"You brought company?" She squinted her eyes and squealed when she realized who was with them. She bolted right to the taller man and hugged him tight. "What are you doing here?"
"Oh, you know... I told you that we would see each other again soon." Ash beamed down at the blonde girl.
"Darn it! If only Clemont would have agreed to come along today." Bonnie sighed. "Oh well. He promised to eat lunch with us later."
"Then let's hurry up and get started, then!" Sophia exclaimed as she had already made her way to her end of the battlefield and released her froakie. They were both stretching in sync with each other, hyped for the training session with the young gym leader.
"She sure doesn't waste time, does she?" Bonnie sighed and stood in her zone.
"Okay, I'll be the referee." Ash eagerly offered and stood to the side with Pikachu.
Once everyone was in their spot to observe, Ash looked to the two girls who nodded that they were ready to begin.
"All right! This is going to be a one on one Pokemon battle. The first person's Pokemon to faint will declare the winner. Any questions?"
"Battle begin!"