"That's right Ash, show me a champion time!" Leon called out while fixing his hat with a touch of eagerness.

"Count on it! Ready Gengar?" Ash glanced at his mega evolved Pokémon. The ghost type looked at Ash with all three of its eyes and grinned ear to ear.

"Gengar!"

"Awesome! Now use Shadow Ball!"

Mega Gengar rose up and initiated it's attack and threw the shadow ball across the battlefield.

"Dodge it!" Leon commanded, swiping his arm to the right. His Charizard flew right up, trying to escape mega Gengar's attack but the shadow ball was too quick as it landed on one of Charizard's wings. It exploded within a second, damaging Charizard greatly. Which caused him to fall down to the battlefield with a loud crash.

There was rubble and dust all over the arena, blinding the spectators. Once the dust cleared, Charizard was in a pit caused by the fall but did not faint. The fire type got up and looked at Leon then back at the Mega Gengar before shaking off pieces of rock.

"Can you keep going, Charizard?" Leon questioned his starter. His Charizard looked back at him and nodded as smoke puffed out of it's nostrils.

"Good, now use a flamethrower!"

Charizard breathed in heavily and let out a huge wave of fire hurtling toward the three-eyed Pokémon. The Mega evolved Pokémon stood firm when the fire reached him. Once the fire came into contact, Mega Gengar just phased through it. Leon's smirk fell a bit when he saw his attack not leave a single scratch on the ghost.

"Ah yes, ghost Pokémon and their special abilities." Leon laughed as he shook his head nonchalantly. Charizard on the other hand was slightly hunched over, showing he was running out of energy to continue.

"Looks like you two are getting tired." Ash grinned.

Ash's Mega Gengar chuckled as it waved it's tongue around boldly.

"I won't lie, you have really grown into a powerful trainer and yes, we are not getting any younger." Leon laughed as he put his hands on his hips before giving his partner a command.

"Charizard, use Dragon Claw!" The Charizard roared greatly as it used every bit of its energy to finally slash Gengar in physical contact.

"Gen- gar!" Mega Gengar winced but swiftly pushed Charizard away by headbudding him with much force. This caused Charizard to be thrown off balance and landed on its back.

"C-Char..." the fire lizard tried getting back up but to no avail as it was too weak to carry on.

"Thanks Leon, now...let's end this battle Gengar!" Ash announced as he raised his arm up with a close fist. Gengar, smiling victoriously, began to charge his last attack.

"Use Shadow Ball once more!"

"Gengar!"

Leon smiled as he was glad with the outcome of this battle. They have been battling for almost fifteen minutes, which is on the long side of pokemon matches. As the shadow ball was hastily making its way toward Charizard, he did nothing but watch. They were tired and felt satisfaction in the battle. The attack from Mega Gengar came into contact, finally taking Charizard out of the battle.

Clembot looked at the fainted lizard from the arena and put it's arm in the air. "Charizard is unable to battle, meaning Monarch Ash is the winner." The robot announced accordingly. The audience clapped and cheered for the two.

After the applause was finished, Mega Gengar devolved back to its original form and instantly laid back down feeling exhausted. Ash stared at his Gengar fondly and walked toward him.

"You ok Gengar?"

"Gengar..." the ghost Pokémon sighed heavily.

Ash took out a Pokéball from his coat pocket and called Gengar back. "Take a good rest, you earned it." Ash spoke calmly while staring at Gengar's Pokeball. It was silent for a mere moment until he heard clapping from no other than the former Monarch himself.

"I gotta hand it to your Gengar Ash, he is a powerful lunatic and I absolutely find that outstanding." Leon sanged as he tipped his hat up.

"Thanks, I trained him the best I can over the years." Ash addressed his former opponent.

"Indeed you have, Monarch!" Someone from the audience came through the dark entry hall. It was revealed to be Raihan along with another person. The glowing eyes of Allister came into the light and walked closer to Ash.

"Y-You trained your G-Gengar into a more powerful ghost Pokémon than before."

Allister slouched and waved to Leon. Many members of the future tournament walked out from the spectating booth as well. They all congratulated them both for a good battle.

As Ash laughed along with his peers, he saw a certain honey blonde leaning near the entry way. He stood up and began walking toward her. The champions and gym leaders from across the world smirked to one another as they watched him.

Once Ash stood in front of Serena, he couldn't take his eyes off her, and neither could she. Bright amber brown eyes meeting beautiful cerulean blue eyes. They held the same posture, not one of them saying a word until Ash's father figure called out to them.

"Hey you two can officially ask each other out now!" Professor Kukui teased as he crossed his arms proudly.

Ash and Serena quickly snapped out of their trance and chuckled softly. Ash was the first to open his mouth.

"Oh! Sorry..um...Serena?"

"Yes Ash?" She responded shyly yet eagerly.

Ash felt like his tongue just got tied as he couldn't let any words out seeing Serena up close again. She was smiling ever so sweetly with her hands behind her as she was waiting for Ash to continue.

'Why is she so cute?' He embarrassingly thought as he scratched beneath his nose.

Eventually he was able to clear his mind and speak the long awaited words.

"Will you go on a d-date with me?"

Ash finished as his arms were to his sides with closed fists. He was truly embarrassed at that moment as he didn't exactly know what he was doing. Yeah they're supposedly romantic partners now but it was still scary in their own right. The topic of romance for Ash was only served in small doses like when professor Kukui and Burnet were getting married.

"You mean an actual date this time and not as a friend right..?" Serena asked for confirmation as she didn't want a repeat of just hanging out as friends like years ago.

"Um...yes in a romantic sense." Ash confirmed. After hearing those words, Serena felt a huge wave of relief wash over her when Ash has finally asked her out on an official date.

"Is that a yes..?" Ash poked through her thought bubble and he was beginning to feel a bit anxious with not having a direct answer to his question.

"Yes!" Serena said a bit too excitedly and then apologized to Ash for waiting for her to answer. "Sorry! I was just so happy to hear you finally say that!"

She was so delighted at the prospect of finally getting to date Ash, to the point she didn't say a single word for a minute. To Ash, it felt like an hour, but he was also happy to know Serena liked him enough to go on a date with him.

"Great!...uh so I guess I have to plan out the date then huh?" Ash laughed, scratching behind his head.

"You'll figure it out, you always do." Serena reassured as she went to hold his hand.

"Alright then, how about you meet me tomorrow night at the city square, at around 3 P.M.? "

"I liked that, although we should part ways right about now to sleep if we are to do so." Serena said with content. Ash blankly stared at her until he looked at his watch.

'1:00 A.M.'

His eyes widened and looked at Serena with worry. "Serena I'm s-" his words halted as he felt a hand on his cheek. Serena's hand felt soft and caused warmth to rise in Ash's face. Serena blushed but kept caressing his cheek before speaking to Ash.

"Hey don't worry, this is usually the time I get to sleep because you know, I got interviews, rehearsals...you know, Kalos Queen stuff." Serena smiled softly trying to ease Ash's worried expression. "But I wouldn't mind staying up a bit longer with you though." Serena confessed tiredly as she rubbed her eye. She wanted to stay up with Ash but her body is telling her otherwise.

"I'm sorry Serena but I can see you're falling asleep, so please let me take you to bed." Ash spoke with worry.

"I'm not that tired and besides I-" Serena tried but her brain betrayed her by letting out a loud yawn. Ash shook his head amusingly and asked Clemont a question, who was just a few feet away trying to fill up the holes caused by his battle with Leon.

"Hey Clemont, do you mind us using the guest rooms in the upper part of the tower?"

Clemont wiped his forehead with his forearm and responded casually. "Hey, I have no problem with that, Ash."

"Thanks Clemont." Ash nodded as turned back to Serena who was undoubtedly going to fall asleep any time now.

"Come on, sleepy head..." Ash whispered to Serena, earning a whine from her.

"Ash...I can stay up a bit longer." Serena wouldn't admit she was tired but internally she knew it was pointless to argue as Ash was stubborn when it came to the well-being of the people close to him. As she was about to give in, Ash suddenly picked her up in a bridal style carry.

"A-Ash!" Serena yelled out in surprise.

"Nope! I'll escort you to your quarters, my queen!" Ash smirked as he saw Serena turned bright red and covered her face with both of her hands to hide it. The raven haired boy began to carry her toward the elevator up as well as saying goodnight to the gym leaders and champions who were still present in the arena. They all smiled and waved back.

Ash carried Serena from the elevator, to the stairs, and down the hallway. The honey blonde was certainly impressed with Ash's strength as he showed no fatigue carrying her even after a couple of minutes. After a long walk through the tower, they finally reached their destination. Ash opened the door and went into the unlit room and gently put Serena on the bed. The Monarch looked around the guest room to see a walk-in closet, a bathroom, and a few slanted windows overlooking the beautiful city.

'I'm impressed by Clemont once again.' He thought until he felt a cool breeze hit him.

There was a chill in the room and he saw a window that was wide open. Ash quickly ran across the room to shut it. When he finished, he saw that Serena was nowhere to be found on the bed. He noticed that bathroom light was on behind the door and so Ash sat on a nearby chair and waited. He took a Pokéball out of his coat and started to polish it for the time being.

After ten minutes, the bathroom door opened to reveal Serena in her pajamas. Her sleepwear consisted of a cozy long sleeved shirt that had a light violet color. It had some fluffy material shaded in a light blue on the neck and rim of the shirt. She also wore dark purple shorts that reached to her knees. To top it all off, she wore slippers shaped like a Wailord.

Ash found her quite pretty when the crescent moon shined on her honey gold locks at just the right angle. He was unknowingly staring at her a bit too long.

Serena started to blush when Ash kept looking at her until she spoke out. "Ash y-you're kinda staring..."

This caused Ash to blink a couple of times and then he started to apologize profusely.

"I'm sorry! It's just that you looked really pretty under the moonlight!" Ash blurted out as he stood back with his hands up in front of him. Yeah he was panicking a bit.

Serena's blush grew bigger after Ash's complimenting. She slowly walked toward her bed and sat down. She looked up at Ash, and mustered all of her confidence for what she was about to say.

"T-Thank you Ash...and I find you really handsome. " She smiled at him before quickly laying down on the bed. Her eyes closed immediately but before she could fall asleep, she felt Ash putting a blanket on her and tucked her in.

"Goodnight Serena." He whispered softly as he made his way out the door.

"Goodnight Ash." And with that, Serena peacefully went to sleep.

Ash quietly closed the door behind him to not disturb Serena's slumber and sighed.

'Wow this is a new experience.' He thought and then slouched a bit, as he started to feel pain in his back from carrying Serena for so long. He then heard tiny footsteps draw near, knowing it belonged to his partner Pikachu.

"Pika!" The little mouse Pokémon climbed up his shoulder and nuzzled his cheek. Ash grinned and scratched one of his ears earning a hum from Pikachu.

"Wanna help plan out my date with Serena tomorrow?" He asked Pikachu with determination.

"Chu!"

"That's the spirit!" Ash chuckled as he walked down the hallway to meet with his fellow summit members.

To be continued...

AN:

Oh boy get ready for the next chapter: (Chapter 8: The Twilight date!) is in the making so don't worry. Oh by the way, I may go back to past chapters to fix up any mistakes because there are probably are some that slipped through my mind because I usually write very late in the evening lol. Other than that see ya later!