Oliverqueen01- How's it going everyone? Hopefully your week is going good. It's been an eventful week especially for pokemon fans around the world. Anyway you're not here for that you're here for the chapter. So here it is. Anyway disclaimer time.

Bayley:Oliverqueen01 does not own Pokemon or anything else made reference to in this story, They belong to Nintendo, Game Freak, TPCI and DC comics and other companies respectively please support the official release.

Oliverqueen01: Thank you Bayley you wanna go get some food?

Bayley:Sure. I'd like that. *blushes*

Oliverqueen01: Yay. *Goes with while Bayley everyone is reading*

Chapter 10: Encouragement and Surprises

Ash, Barry and Gary were at Barry's house hanging out. They were all going over the events of yesterday. When Ash finished explaining to them both Barry and Gary sat in deep thought. After a couple of minutes passed Ash broke the silence.

"So... what happens now guys, what do I do?" Ash asked them both.

"What happens now is that you need to make a decision Ash, you can't put it off any longer. It's time." Gary sternly told him.

"But I can't-"

Barry stopped him in the middle of his sentence.

"Ash, Gary is right. The longer you put this off now after what happened... the worse it will become trust me on this."

"But Barry I-"

"You can't decide right? I think I can make this work hold on one second."

Ash and Gary looked at each other as Barry went to his room and came back with a old balancing scale and a small brown bag.

"What's this for? I thought we were going to help me choose between them." Ash asked him confused.

"It is. I saw this on a old show once. Gary and I are going to ask you questions and you'll decide whether Serena or Lillie better fit what we're asking. And we'll put-"

Barry pulled out a small bean.

"These jellybeans."

"We're going to decide this with jellybeans? Have you two completely lost it? How in the name of Arceus will this help? We're deciding about Serena and Lillie not what jellybeans go on what side of the scale." Ash told him still confused.

"It's either this Ash or we get both of them right here and you tell them how you feel about each of them. Your choice." Gary warned him.

"So these Jellybeans, what's the first question?" Ash asked knowing that if he was to confront both Lillie and Serena now that it would end badly.

"First off personality: which girl makes you laugh?"

"Serena makes me laugh."

Gary nodded as he dropped a jellybean on the left side of the scale.

"But ya Lillie makes me laugh too."

Barry dropped a bean on the right side of the scale.

"Alright, which girl would you rather have deep conversations with?"

"Well, I mean I can talk to Serena about anything."

Gary dropped another bean.

"But, the same can be applied for Lillie also."

Barry dropped another bean.

"Okay, Honesty. You can trust her, very key very key."

"Well Serena is the most honest person I've ever met."

"That's a double and I'm using red jellybeans for this."

Gary dropped the two beans.

"But Lillie guys... has been honest from the very beginning."

Barry dropped the beans.

"Okay. This is really important... which one of them do you see yourself with more?"

"Well there's only one Serena and she's got everything for her with the whole never giving up attitude."

Gary poured another bean.

"But there's nothing like being around Lillie who's basically the same."

Barry poured the bean. The three of them then looked at the scale which balanced equally.

"It's a tie. You like Serena as much as you like Lillie and you can't live without either of them in your life." Barry concluded

"This was a bad idea wasn't it?" Gary asked defeated.

"No. This was a good idea." Ash told them.

Barry and Gary looked at Ash in confusion.

"Guys. Ya I like Lillie, I liked the time I spent with her when I was in Alola and even here now, But I can live without her. I... I can't live without Serena after last night and how she made me feel." Ash said confidently.

Ash then took the bag and placed the remaining beans on Gary's side of the scale.

"I think this means it's no contest and I've made a decision."

Barry then spoke.

"Good. Then can I offer a bit of advice?"

"Sure."

"Ash...sometimes the only way to move forward is to revisit the things in your past that were holding you back. You have deal with it head on no matter how scary it may seem because once you do you can go further than you ever imaged."

"I'll keep that in mind Barry. Thank you."

Barry nodded as Ash thanked him. Ash then turned to Gary who simply gave him a stoic look which meant call her now and meet with her regardless of what she was doing or who she was with at the moment. Ash took out his phone and called her number.

"Here goes..."

Meanwhile at Leaf's house...

"And that's what happened." Serena explained to them.

Lana, Leaf and Lillie stared at Serena in amazement after she told them the events of last night. Each girl was trying to process it differently:

Lana and Leaf were thinking that it was a very big risk that Serena took kissing Ash on the cheek like that. They only wondered how Ash reacted after Serena left his apartment last night. But both of them were glad that she took that risk, maybe it would steer Ash in the right direction towards Serena's feelings for him.

Lillie on the other hand had mixed feelings. On the one hand she was happy that Serena took a chance and kissed Ash. It was a possible step forward for both of them and she was genuinely happy. On the other hand she was a bit jealous and sad that she wasn't the one who kissed Ash. True she had written that letter to him so many years ago but now... now looking back on it, things between them changed.

"So what are you going to do now Serena?" Lana asked

Serena blushed before she answered.

"I-I think I'm going to tell him." Serena said with a blush

All 3 girls had a look of shock on their faces.

"A-Are you sure?" Lillie asked

Serena nodded.

"I think the time is right. Amidst everything that's going on I think that if I don't tell him... then he'll never figure it out."

Serena then felt her phone ringing and pulled it out of her peach coloured purse. When she looked at the caller ID she saw Ash. She turned red and immediately answered it.

"H-Hello?" Serena answered

"H-Hey, What's up?" Ash asked

"I'm just with the girls, why what's wrong?"

Ash scratched the back of his head nervously while Gary and Barry were looking at him.

"Um, can we meet up? There's something I want to talk to you about."

"S-Sure. When and where?"

"There's a park near my place... I'll be there at 3."

"Okay. See you then."

"See ya."

The both of them hung up the phone at the same time and then turned towards their friends and uttered a single phrase to them:

"HELP ME!"

Their friends sighed as they took them into another room to help them get ready to meet. This was going to be a very long 2 hours.

2 hours later...

"And done. You can open you eyes now Serena." Lillie said with a giggle

Serena slowly opened her eyes and when she saw her reflection she was in shocked at what she was seeing. On the bed were the clothes she was wearing earlier which was a adult version of her clothes that she once wore during her travels with Ash in Kalos. She then took a good look at herself.

On her feet was a pair of a pair of black strapless sandals exposing her pink nail polished toes. She continued looking up and saw a short white skirt that stopped her knees with a brown belt. She then saw that her upper body was covered by a long burgundy shoulder shirt. Her neck bore a silver chain with a swirling heart in the middle, her wrists had silver bangles on each side. Her short hair was wavy and she had a light touch of makeup on.

"I look-"

"Amazing?" Leaf asked

"Beautiful?" Lana asked

"Elegant?" Lillie asked

Serena giggled.

"I was going to say cute, but yeah those work too."

The three girls smiled at Serena. Serena then picked up her pink purse and straightened her skirt giving her one last quick glance over.

"Well then I'm off."

The three other girls nodded as Serena left.

With the boys...

Ash stepped out of Barry's room wearing a pair of blue jeans, black shoes and a checkered blue and white shirt.

"What do you guys think?"

Barry and Garry shook their heads negatively. Ash then headed back to change. He emerged 2 minutes wearing a grey shirt and black pants.

"Now?"

Gary pushed Ash back into the room to change once again.

Ash came out of the room one last time wearing a black shirt, a blue jacket and blue jeans.

"Now?"

"Ash... you go back one more time in that room and we'll have to get all your water pokemon to use water gun or hydro pump on you." Gary teased

"So this one got it."

Ash quickly grabbed his signature red hat with half a pokeball in white on it as well as his car keys and bid goodbye to Barry and Gary. When he was gone Gary turned to Barry and spoke to the younger man.

"So what happens now?"

"Now... we wait and pray that Ash listens to his heart."

Barry's phone then ringed, he bid goodbye to Gary as his day job beckoned.

Serena sat down on a bench in the park waiting for Ash. She had arrived 15 minutes early to mentally prepare herself. She also took a look at the children playing on the playground, with their pokemon and with their friends. She always knew that she wanted to be a mother someday and she knew that she only wanted Ash to be the father there was no one else she wanted it to be other than him.

"This is it. the big moment I've been waiting for since we first met. I had a chance before 12 years ago to tell him how I felt about him but... I wasn't ready. Now I am. In other words: Serena let's hit this out of the park!"

Ash arrived at the park 20 minutes after Serena did and looked around for her. Once he spotted her he began walking over to her. Barry's words kept ringing in his head.

"Move forward by revisiting the things in your past head on no matter how scary they seem because once I do, I can go further than I ever imaged."

Ash then began thinking to himself.

"For someone as the same age as me Barry sure is wise and right. I've always been doing this sorta dance with every girl I've travelled with. It's like we come together and then I pull away. Something pulls me away that something being trying to become a pokemon master. But now.. I think I'm finally ready to move on the next phase of my life. A life where... I'm with someone who makes me feel the same way I do about pokemon. In other words: Ash Ketchum you need to knock this out of the proverbial park."

Ash tapped Serena on the shoulder to which she turned around and hugged him. The both of them sat down on the bench and began to talk.

"So.. you first or should I go first?" They said at the same time cutting each other off.

"I'll go." Ash answered

Serena nodded as Ash began to speak.

"Wow, I thought this was gonna be easier to say. But now I'm sitting here - looking at you and it's-"

Serena took her hand and put it on top his hand while gently smiling at him.

"It's okay, take your time and tell me. I'm not going anywhere."

Ash nodded as he continued.

"Serena... ever since we've met we've been doing this dance. We come together, and then I pull away. Something pulls me away. But I think, finally it's time that I moved forward and move on to the next phase of my life.

Serena was taken back in shock.

"W-What are you trying to say Ash?"

"That you know me better than anyone and that you are more important to me than anyone.
I just hope... I didn't wait too long to say it. I think what I'm trying to say is... Will you go on a date with me?"

Serena had to pinch herself to make sure that she wasn't dreaming. Her long time crush had asked her on date. A date of all things she made sure that she wasn't dreaming by feeling slight pain from pinching herself she answered while blushing profoundly.

"Y-Yes!"

Ash grinned at her. He was happy that she had agreed to a date with him. He also knew that he still had the manner of dealing with Lillie and her feelings towards him that were contained in the letter she wrote for him but he would deal with that another day.

Meanwhile...

Police tape covered a house with the police and a young woman inside. The detectives were talking to a young woman with brown shoulder length hair who was in tears. When they were done questioning her an older detective with a stubble on his face and brown complexion turned to Barry who was working the scene trying to gather evidence.

"So what do you got Barry?" the detective asked

"Nothing."

"What do you mean nothing?"

"I mean nothing. No sign of forced entry from the doors or windows, no shoe prints or fingerprints or blood splatters for that matter. Whoever did this, was a professional or has watched enough movies to pull this off."

"I'm going with the first one."

Barry nodded as he took a look at the young woman.

"So what's her story?" Barry asked

"Apparently she was asleep when a sound that woke her up, next she claims she knew that she was knocked out by someone using something."

Barry looked at her again.

"Maybe the medical report will tell us something that we're both missing because something here is not adding up."

"Agreed."

As Barry began walking off a thought hit him and he turned back to the detective he was talking to earlier.

"Hey Joe, I think I figured out what's not adding up."

"Hit me Barry, what did you come up with?"

"So, she's asleep and gets up because she heard a sound. As she walks down the hallway she's knocked out by someone using a sleeping agent most likely chloroform. As I said earlier no signs of forced entry through the doors or windows."

"Barr... what are you saying?"

"I'm saying that either our perp was in the house piror to the attack or-"

"The perp is known by our victim."

The two of them looked at woman again wondering what she was hiding.

Outside a man dressed in black with blue eyes overlooked the police doing their investigation. He started to walk away planning his next move.

Oliverqueen01- DUN DUN DUN, didn't see that coming did you? Thought I would add a bit of mystery into the mix. Anyway my birthday was 2 weeks ago I had a blast of a time. Anyway I hope you enjoyed the moments in this chapter, the whole Ash deciding who's better for him was based off that scene from Boy meets World where Cory and Shawn were deciding who Cory should go for between Topanga and Lauren. And the amourshipping moment was something that actually happened to me yesterday XD. Anyway enough babbling from me time to respond to your reviews.

Reviews/questions/comments

Klay (guest)- In the future perhaps. We'll see. Thanks for the review.

Espeon44- I'm not sure yet. We'll see in the future though. Thanks for the review.

Armorshippingfan- Yeah, after what happened he needed to make a decision and I think he made the right one by talking to her about it. They will stop hunter after all he's the only one stopping Serena. Thanks for the review.

Gurkaran23- Thank you for think it's amazing. I will try to keep up. Thanks for the review.

RenegadeReviewer- Ya Lillie's... interesting. Don't worry by the time this story ends everyone will have a happy ending expect for Hunter because you know Karma is a thing lol. Ya he's gone zubatshit crazy. (HA! I see what you did there) :p. His mother was an actress when he was growing up and I think in his mind he's comparing performances to acting which is why he's doing what he does. As for the other thing don't worry i think we both misunderstood the point but i can see what you mean now. As you said it was probably late and both of us were tired lol. And thanks for saying that this puts a smile on your face. Thanks for the review.

Wes27- Yes he is because when I started writing this I had the idea for him and this is how he was born. Thanks for the review.

Amourguest- Yes yes, keep up the amourshipping stuff and all that good jazz. I will don't worry about that :p Thank you for the review.

Anyways that does it for this chapter along with reviews/questions Remember if you liked this, favourite, follow and review and if you want share it with people you know who will like it.

Until next time this Oliverqueen01 signing off :)

"People say a lot of things, like "You can't teach personality" or "You can't teach charisma," and I find that it's not true." - Daniel Bryan