Okay, this is a really FUN chapter for you Amourshippers. Your patience, will pay off here. Have fun!

Zippy

All day Serena practiced with her pokemon. She knew that she was rusty, but later on the day, she was feeling more confident. It was all coming back to her. There was one more routine that she wanted to try, but-

"Hey Serena." a familiar voice called.

Serena turned to face Zach who was standing on the edge of the field. "Oh, hi Zach. How are you?"

He began to pace towards Serena. "I'm doing well, thanks. We missed you while I was sparring Ash. You know, he's really good. His Greninja is really powerful."

Serena looked confused. "You didn't see his Greninja do anything weird, did you?"

Zach shook his head. "No, skilled Greninja, but not weird. Why?"

"Oh, um, no reason."

Zach was quiet for a moment. "You know, Serena, thank you for doing this. I'm sorry you haven't been able to spend a lot of time with Ash. I know how much you like him."

"It's really nothin-, wait." Serena turned bright red. "Wait, how did you know about that?"

"Veronica made a guess, and you just confirmed it." Zach commented. "You got it bad, don't you?"

Serena sighed. "He just looks at me as a friend, and I guess I'm just supposed to stay there. He's so nice to everyone, and yet, I don't know, I'm just stuck here. He doesn't care."

Zach shook his head. "I'd beg to differ, Ash was having a hard time focusing. His head wasn't in the game, and I think it was because of you."

Serena perked up. "You think so?"

"It's just a guess. Even if it doesn't work out between you two, you have a lot of influence over him. My recommendation is to just tell him how you feel. You can't go wrong."

"But, I dunno. I'm scared,"

"Scared?"

"I guess, that I don't want him to reject me."

Zach nodded. "I totally get it."

"What? But, you're a champion! You are the embodiment of confidence and power. You went on a total power rant back when you fought Ash in Raspberry city."

He shrugged, letting out a nervous chuckle. "No, I totally get it. You see, I don't get scared easily, but one of my biggest fears is that I won't be important. I don't want to be rejected because if I'm rejected, there must be something wrong with me. It's why I'm putting in so much effort to please Veronica's dad, it terrifies me that he'll hate me. I'm still trying to figure myself out for this whole 'champion' thing, and I'm sorry if I sometimes seem arrogant, because in reality, I don't know where I stand yet in this new life."

"Really?"

"Absolutely, but we can't let those fears control us. I'm making efforts to build up my own self confidence, and you should too. Serena, I have a question for you that I didn't get a chance to ask you. What do you want to do?"

"I don't know what to do right now."

"Not for this situation, but, for your life in general. Forget failing in front of or pleasing people, what do you want with your life?"

Serena thought for a moment. "I'm, still not sure."

"You don't have to answer right now, but just think about it. Get some rest, I can tell you're tired."

"Yeah, you're right. Thank you."

"No problem, and thank you for helping me."

"Sure, bye." Zach began to walk off, and Serena sighed. She gazed into the stars, unsure what to think. She then sighed. "I need some rest."

Zach is right, I'm going to try and figure out what I want.

The next day…

Serena woke up bright and early. She looked up, watching her pokemon snooze lightly. They'll wake up soon. Serena hopped out of bed, and she went over to the bathroom to get ready. While she was putting on makeup, she felt a tug at her shirt.

"Cham-Pancham."

"Hi Pancham, you excited for today?"

"Cham!" the pokemon replied confidently. "Pan-Pan!"

"I'm excited too, I know we'll do our very best." Suddenly, a couple of ribbons peeled into the room, and quickly covered the eyes of Pancham. Pancham immediately began to panic, clawing at thin air, frantically calling it's name. "Sylveon, play nice." Serena commented.

"Syl-Syl." it replied, removing the ribbons. Pancham immediately turned towards the fairy pokemon.

"Pan-Pan-Pancham!"

"Sylveon-Syl." Sylveon replied apologetically.

Pancham patted Sylveon. "Pan-cham."

"Good, is Braixen up?"

The firey fox popped it's head in. "Braixen."

"Good, now get ready to go, we have a big day ahead of us."

As soon as Serena and her team were ready, she returned her pokemon and left the room. At the lobby of the pokemon center, Ash, Pikachu, and Misty were waiting for her.

"Hey Serena." Ash said. "Wow, you look awesome already."

"Pika-Pi!" Pikachu agreed.

"Aw, thanks Ash." Serena replied.

"I'm sorry, I'm a little confused. What's a pokemon performance."

"Oh, it's when a girl trainer does a variety of things with her pokemon like baking, performing a routine, and other cool stuff." Ash explained.

"So, it's a pokemon contest, but, girlier."

"Sorta," Serena commented. "Contests are very similar, but they have to do a lot more with the pokemon than the trainer. With performances, the trainer is right up there with pokemon, and I like doing performances much more than contests for just that reason."

Misty frowned. "I see. So Ash, about your champion friend, where will we meet him?"

"He said that we'll meet him at the performance building, it's down on the main street, I think."

"I think it starts soon," Serena replied. "I looked up the schedule for Grace week, this performance is one of the earlier items in the day."

"We should get you over there then." Ash said. "We don't want you to be late."

"Right."

The three began to rush down the crowded main street. Suddenly, the intercom came on.

"Hello, everyone, and thank you for coming here to the Aclean League's very own Grace week. Today, we have an exciting panel on pokemon care by the Joy family at 3 in the Blissey building on Main street. Next, hurry over to the pokemon performance building on main street to witness a pokemon showcase hosted by the Monsieur Pierre, which starts at 10 this morning, so hurry up. There are many more fun things to do at the Aclean League's Grace week, so keep your eyes peeled. Have a wonderful time!"

The announcer clicked off, and Serena glanced at her pokedex for the time. "It's almost 9, we should get there soon so I can prepare.

"Right!" Ash said, quickening his pace with Serena's.

Finally, they arrived at the performance building. On the outside, it looked like an old fashioned theater house, and just outside, Zach was standing with his brother and another familiar face.

"Hey Zach!" Serena called.

Zach turned to meet the three. "Oh, hey Serena, glad you could make it. I'm just catching up with Veronica."

Veronica peeked her head around Zach. "Hello again."

"Hi Veronica, it's been a while." Ash said.

Pikachu suddenly lept off of Ash's shoulder and jumped towards Veronica. "Pika-Pika!" it yelled kind of angrily.

"I know," Veronica said sorrowfully, kneeling down to be closer to the electric mouse. "I messed up, I really didn't mean to say what I said. The truth is, I'm just not that good at talking like you. Can you forgive me?"

Pikachu folded it's arms, and turned away. "Pika-pika"

"Huh?" she asked.

"Wait, what did Pikachu say?" Ash asked.

"Pikachu wants me to try to talk with him again." Veronica replied. "Right?"

"Pika." Pikachu said, nodding.

"Um, okay," Veronica said. "Pika-Pika."

"Pika-Pikachu." Pikachu replied, invested.

"Pika-Pikachu, Pika." Veronica replied.

"Pika-Pika, Pika-Pikachu?" Pikachu then pointed at Zach who was standing next to Veronica.

"What, me?" Zach responded. "Veronica, what's he asking?"

"Pika-Pikachu?" Pikachu asked Veronica.

Veronica put her head down for a moment, clearly in thought. When she lifted her head up, she turned to face her boyfriend standing next to her. She was almost in tears, a smile on her face. "Pika, Pikachu." she said.

Pikachu smiled. "Pikachu!"

Veronica perked up. "You mean it?"

"Pika!" Pikachu lept onto Veronica's shoulder, giving her a big hug.

"That was awesome!" Ash exclaimed.

"I didn't know anyone could do that!" Misty echoed.

Zach helped Veronica to her feet. "What did Pikachu ask about me."

"I'll tell you later." Veronica replied, holding Zach's hand.

"Aww, it's cute." Max interjected.

Zach used his free hand to playfully shove his brother. "Very funny Max."

"I'm hilarious." Max agreed. "Say, V, when is your dad coming?"

"He should be here soon. He had to take care of a couple of business things."

"What does your dad do?" Ash asked.

"He works with the Pokeball industry. Ever since the pokeball's invention, my dad worked on improving it, and he helped invent some of the more independent pokeballs like the luxury ball and stuff like that. I help by asking the pokemon if they liked the pokeball."

"That's so cool!" Serena agreed.

"Yeah, he's cool, but he can be kind of intense sometimes, and he's not all that fond of Zach."

"Hopefully, that'll change today."

"Wait, what?" Veronica asked.

"Well, Serena here is a pokemon performer, she's agreed to participate in the pokemon showcase. When your dad see's my good connections and relatively peaceful life, he'll definitely give me his blessing."

"Will I now?" another voice interjected.

Zach instantly paled. Max turned on his charming demeanor to cover his brother.

"Hiya Veronica's dad. How're you doing?"

"I'm doing well, thank you for asking. It's nice to see that one of you Winters' boys have common courtesy."

Zach turned around, covering the sight of him and Veronica holding hands. "Hello sir, I'm glad you could make it."

"That's better, get your hands off my daughter please."

"Of, course." Zach said, reluctantly letting go of Veronica's hand. "Anyway, how much did you hear."

"I heard you had a trick up your sleeve, what is it?" the man asked.

"Mister Ivy, I present a good friend of mine, Serena." Zach stepped aside to show Serena to the man. When Ash and his group saw him, they instantly knew why Zach found him intimidating. The man was well dressed, and had piercing brown eyes, a trait that Ash never thought was possible. He kept his head high, though his stature was short and round. The man focused in on Serena.

"Well I'll be. Do you know who this is?" Mister Ivy asked.

"Yes, this is Serena, the well known performer." Zach replied.

"Well known? She surpassed Aria's fame at the end of her first year as Kalos queen."

Serena began to look nervous. "You, did your research." she commented nervously.

"I always do, but in the middle of that second year, you vanished, without a trace, leaving that disgraceful girl Miette to take your position, and no one knew why."

Ash turned to face Serena, noticing the discomfort in her eyes. "I, ur-" Serena muttered.

"And you," The man pointed at Zach who stiffened at the sudden change of attention. "You brought her back for her debut, just for me?"

"Y-Yessir." Zach replied. "I, know how much you like performances, so, I thought this would be nice for you to see."

Mister Ivy nodded. "Boy, there might be hope for you yet. Let's not keep our champion waiting, she needs to prepare. Good luck, Miss Serena."

"Thank you." she replied, a twinge of nervousness in her voice.

Mister Ivy led her daughter and Zach away, leaving Max with Ash's group.

"Good luck Serena, I'm excited to see you, I love performances." he said.

"Thank you," Serena said. "You should probably help your brother before he dies of heart failure."

"Good point, see ya." Max responded, walking into the theater-like building.

"Wow, that was something." Misty commented.

"Yeah, that was interesting." Ash agreed. "Hey Serena, we should-"

"Ash, can we talk for a minute?"

Ash looked confused. "Um, sure. Hey Misty, Pikachu do you mind?"

Misty rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I'll be inside. Come on Pikachu."

When Misty walked inside, with Pikachu following close behind, Ash turned to face Serena. "Yeah, what's up?"

"Ash I can't do it." she said shakily. She turned to face him, and he could tell that she was trying so hard not to cry. "I don't think I can do it."

"Why?"

"Because, there's so much riding on this. I haven't done this in forever, what if they get mad at me? I don't wanna fail."

"It's not that big of a deal."

"But it is a big deal! How is it not a big deal? I'll let Zach down, I'll let you down, I'll let me down."

"Sorry, I didn't mean it like that, but first of all, Zach and I don't matter. Second of all, just ignore expectations for a second. I've seen you perform a lot. I even saw you on TV a lot. I know you'll do great, I could never look at you as a failure. You love to perform, you're so happy when you do, and you never cease to amaze me each and every time you get on stage."

"Really?"

"Absolutely, there's no way they'll hate you."

"You're sure."

"Positive."

Serena thought about it for a minute. She then felt a pair of arms around her. Ash pulled her into a big hug. Serena's head was on Ash's chest, and she could feel Ash's heart pounding.

Is he, nervous? She wondered.

When Ash backed away, he smiled at her. "You should, head in now to get ready."

"Yeah, you're right. Thank you, I needed that."

"No problem."

Serena and Ash walked into the building then split up. Ash walked into the auditorium, which looked much like the other auditoriums which he had seen for many other pokemon performances. Veronica stood nearby the entrance to the auditorium.

"Hey Ash, what took you so long?"

"I talked with Serena for a minute. Sorry about keeping you waiting."

"We have a seat reserved for you up at the front. Let's go."

"Okay, I'll follow you."

She's going to do great. I know she will, she always has. I'll support her to the ends of the earth. Ash thought.

I'm not going to let her down again.

Well, that was fun. The conclusion of this part of the story will happen soon, more amourshipping inbound. So don't go away! Be sure to let me know how I did by reviewing, I love hearing what you guys have to say. Until next time!

Zippy