This one is almost a thousand words! Let's read "Battling on Thin Ice!"
She stood on the sidelines and watched him training his Pokémon. The older woman, Alexa, was using her huge Dragon-Type Pokémon to simulate Viola's Vivillion's Gust. The other two people, a young girl named Bonnie and a young man named Clemont, also watched on the sidelines.
'I bet you saw the huge mess I made of it,' Ash had said of his handling of the Gym Battle.
'I thought you were awesome.' Serena smiled inwardly. He really was awesome. Even with the defeat he had suffered just hours earlier, he was never giving up. Serena could see in his auburn eyes how much he cared for his Pokémon. She wanted to watch him, to see what he would do. She wanted to watch him succeed.
Time must have flown by, because before she knew it, it was evening. As thanked Alexa for the help, and while the woman left, Serena followed Ash, Clemont, and Bonnie into the Pokémon Center's cafeteria.
Ash watched her tentatively hover around their table. "You can sit with us if you want," he offered, patting the bench he was sitting on.
Smiling, she sat down. "Thanks! I really appreciate it. So, what're you talking about?"
"We're going over everything Ash is doing to get ready for his rematch," Bonnie said.
"We already have a way to handle Gust," Ash started…
Serena was lost in his explanation. His Pokémon were eating on the floor, recovering their strength from the training. She remained quiet as the other three discussed more training in the evening. The Ash she sat next to was so inspired. So driven. Much different than the one she had seen earlier in the day, reeling from his loss.
He was so full of energy that night, as Clemont used some sort of web-shooting invention to simulate the Sticky Web that Viola used. He wasn't even dampened when it exploded.
After that, they had a talk. "You're going to be doing this too, right?" he asked her.
"I don't know if that's what I want to do," she had said. They had been discussing collecting Badges and having Gym Battles. She didn't want to admit that the only reason she started her journey was just to get out of her house and see him again. Not yet, anyway.
Ash was brimming with confidence that morning as they left for the Gym. And it showed in the battle. Pikachu handled Surskit well. He wasn't able to prevent the Ice Battlefield, but Pikachu had prevented Sticky Web from hitting the ceiling and impeding Fletchling.
When Ash substituted Fletchling in, however, is when things took a turn for the worse.
Fletchling was taking the fight to Vivillon, landing a Steel Wing on the Bug-and-Flying-Type. But before it could launch a Razor Wind, Vivillon sent out a cloud of Sleep Powder at the Tiny Robin Pokémon.
Clemont had gasped. "I didn't know Viola's Vivillion could use Sleep Powder."
Looking at Ash, Serena saw that he had been taken off-guard as well. They had trained so hard the previous day, preparing for Sticky Web, Gust, and the Ice Field. But even with those accounted for, Viola managed to keep one last trick up her sleeve.
'No', she thought.
Fletchling fell from the sky and was easily sniped by Solar Beam. Ash recalled the Flying-Type, gritting his teeth. 'Ash can still win this,' she told herself. She saw his confidence was shaken, but she still believed. And she rallied Bonnie and Clemont as well.
With Pikachu, Ash began a counter-offensive, using Iron Tail to ground Pikachu against Gust and allowing it to launch Thunderbolts at Vivillion. The Gym Leader laughed. "All you've done is make it easier to keep you in focus," she said. "Vivillion, Solar Beam!"
"Pikachu, Thunderbolt!" Ash called back. The two beams struck each other in the air, creating an explosion. Neither side had gained an inch, but Viola still had her Sleep Powder.
Another cloud of the green dust began to cover Pikachu, and the Electric-Type Mouse Pokémon began to wobble.
"Pikachu, wake up!"
Serena saw Ash's panic. "You can do it Ash!" she yelled from the sidelines.
Pikachu was barely holding onto his conciousness. "Pikachu!" Ash was panicked.
'There has to be something I can do' Serena's thoughts were racing. Was it really hopeless? Would Ash lose again?
'Don't give up 'til it's over!'
His smiling face. The summer sun shining through the trees. His outstretched hand.
She wouldn't give up on him, and she couldn't allow himself to give up, either.
"Remember all the training you did with everyone!" She called out, hoping that something would register, and he would shake off the doubts he was facing.
A sudden realization covered his face. "Pikachu, use Electro Ball on yourself!"
The rest of the battle was over before Viola could recover from Ash's strategy to remove the Sleep Powder. Pikachu's Electro Ball overpowered Solar Beam, knocking Vivillion into frozen objects on the ceiling, hampering it's flight. Crippled, it was an easy target for one last Thunderbolt, winning Ash his badge.
Serena ran out with Clemont and Bonnie to congratulate him. "This was all of our victory," he said. "I couldn't have done it without each of you."
Serena felt herself blush a little. She stayed quiet, wanting to let him absorb his triumph. This was the boy she wanted to meet. The unstoppable, never surrendering boy she knew and… ….
Serena smiled, kind of embarrassed at herself. 'Well, knew and loved,' she finished her thought.