Chapter 8: Afterwards
Days until time's up: 24
Serena walked into the main foyer, almost in tears. She had been beaten by a newbie. Some weird person named Sonaria. She had a kricketune and a chatot, and Serena was blown out of the water.
Shauna was the first to greet her. Serena ran into her arms and broke down crying. How could she lose? She's worked so hard. Shauna was conflicted, but put her best efforts in to comforting her friend. After a long period of silence, Shauna spoke. "I'm so sorry, but I know you did the best you could possibly do, and that's what really matters. It takes a good performer to win, but it takes an even better performer to come back and win after losing. Next time, it will be all yours."
Serena felt a bit better. "Thanks, that helped a lot. I'm sure I'll get it next year. I might even have a Delphox then!"
Miette was standing outside that hallway. She was very tired, as she was already practicing for the next performance all day, but her ears faintly caught the lines " But it takes an even better performer to come back after losing." Miette looked out the window that peered on to the ground two stories below. Her eyes caught Ash, who was waiting on a bench. No one seemed to be talking to him or anything. Was she allowed to still try for Ash? It was never specified, but was she supposed to just give up even longer?
Miette thought for a while, and eventually concluded on one thought: Ash always says, 'never give up 'till it's over', so I'll use that mindset I think
She ran down the stairs as fast as she could, she couldn't let anyone else get close to him before she did. She ran all the way to the door of the complex, and then casually walked out like she didn't just sprint to go see a boy. She pretended to walk past Ash at first, then paced backward until she was in line with him. "Hey Ash! What are you doing all alone?"
Ash wasn't excited, but he wasn't necessarily sad. "I guess I feel bad for all of you. You all put so much work in, but I still feel so bad you girls lost. Especially Serena.
This angered Miette a bit. "Oh, and why is that?"
Ash replied simply. "It was so close, she had over 45% of the vote, and it was an incredible match. I feel bad for all of you, but that one was too close to handle."
Miette returned to normal. She went over and sat next to Ash. "Just out of curiosity, I saw you gave Serena a present before the performances. What was that about?"
Ash remembered the purple ball he gave Serena. He hadn't touched it since Sinnoh when he used it last. "I had no need for it, and I really thought it would make her more ready to perform if she had a little boost of support."
Miette wasn't done asking questions. "But why Serena? Wouldn't any other girl do just as well with that boost?" She moves closer to Ash
Ash thought about it. He hadn't really thought about why he gave it to Serena, it was just a spur-of-the-moment kind of thing. "I don't know. Just kind of did." Ash was red from getting asked all these questions.
Miette decided to be very upfront now. "Look, what I'm going at is a simple yes or no question: Do you like Serena?"
Ash said something that surprised her. "Actually, I kind of like where we are now just as friends. I'll always support her in everything she does, because I care about her, but I'm not gonna say that I like her." He got red like he was trying to hide something. "I don't think that I really like anyone, you know, like that."
Miette jumped on that blush. "Oooooh, you blushed like crazy there. I bet you dooooo!"
Ash said, "Fine, if it gets you off my back I'll tell you. I do like someone, but I'm not telling you who it is."
Miette looked over to the complex door. Serena, Clemont, and Bonnie walked out with Shauna, Tierno, and Trevor. Miette jumped up. "Well that's all I needed! So long!"
Serena looked over to see Ash, but never saw who he was talking to. She ran into his arms and broke down. She was still pretty upset she lost, but wanted to make sure Shauna felt like she was better.
Ash didn't know what to do in times like this. He put his hand on her shoulder, and tried to comfort her. She looked at him, and said, "I'm sorry I lost…"
Ash said, "Don't be! You tried as hard as you could. That's what matters."
Serena smiled at him. "Thanks, Ash. You always know what to say."
They continued on their way back to Lumiose city. Clemont had some gym battles to do, so he decided to go back to take them on his own. Serena tried to move close to Ash as they walked, but his oblivious nature prevented it from happening.
Miette looked at them from afar. "So I still have a chance. Hm. What can I do to get my way?"
New notes: wooo double upload week! This one's short and I wrote it way too fast so sorry
Notes: there ya go. I gave you kind of what y'all wanted. Don't worry, there'll be more of this, I'm not just dropping this and running.
New fic is in progress. It's a one-and-done deal, so I'll be a while on that.
That's all I have today bye
