A few days after leaving Pokemon Center, the group was on their way to Stow-on-Side again. The gray of the weather had receded and instead of the gray cloud mass they were now passing under the beautiful sunshine and it cheered up the mood of the travelers very much.
Although the mood of the travelers had picked up, the group was still strangely quiet. Actually, the only one in the group who said anything as they walked was Melissa and she, too, just because she was talking endlessly long calls to some guy waiting for her at Stow-on-Side. Ash, Serena, and Gou, on the other hand, were silent and sunk into their own thoughts.
Serena couldn't help but think that this was the second time she and Ash had been close to kissing during this journey. The first time had been there in the disgusting forest then and it had been interrupted by Riolu at the time. What if they had made it to the end this time? What would have followed? Would she and Ash be together now?
But, Serena went back to her recent thoughts, they had really been very close to kissing. And if she wasn't wrong, recently the initiative had been taken by Ash.
Serena frowned slightly. So did that mean Ash also had some feelings for her? And if there was, at least he hadn't figured them out. Otherwise, something would certainly have already happened. Though, Ash was definitely the densest person on earth, so it didn't surprise Serena much.
Serena glanced at Ash, who was walking behind her, and this flashed to her his familiar, toothy smile. Serena smiled back and then turned her gaze back forward. She felt the heat in her cheeks again, which had become very familiar to her as she traveled with Ash. Sometimes she wished she would blush less easily, then at least she couldn't be teased so much.
However, a recent act had made her think about another thing as well. Shouldn't she have been bolder on this journey? That's what she had decided at the beginning. So now would be a good time to put that decision into practice.
Serena made sure Melissa and Gou, who were going ahead, were not looking in her direction at that very moment. To her relief, she found that they did not. Gou had started arguing something with Scorbunny and Melissa was talking very focused on her phone. Good, Serena thought. They don't look, so now I can act.
She gradually slowed her pace, at which point she eventually walked at the same pace as Ash. However, this had not yet noticed Serena as he stared straight in front of him and seemed to think of something very focused. Pikachu, sitting on his shoulder, was instead, as it knowingly grinned at Serena and Serena raised her finger to her lips so he could be quiet. Pikachu nodded silently and stayed to watch the play he definitely wanted to see.
Serena breathed and made sure once again that Gou or Melissa certainly didn't look in her direction. They didn't, so Serena breathed a sigh of relief. Then she glanced once more time at Ash and then grabbed this by his hand.
****
Ash was in his thoughts. What had happened between him and Lucario in the battle between him and Melissa had been on his mind for the last two days. It did not leave him alone and he wondered why it had happened to him.
Why had he suddenly shouted at Lucario so? He had never shouted at his Pokemon in that way in the match, at least not by calling them weak to offend them. It made Ash wonder about the possibility that he might be turning into something like Team Rocket's leader Giovanni, and at least the thought didn't make him pick up.
However, Ash's thoughts on the subject were interrupted, when Serena happened to glance at him, and switched to dealing with this honey-blonde-haired girl. He flashed to Serena a wide smile and it made Serena smile as well. And for some reason it caused that peculiar feeling in Ash's stomach that he always had close to Serena.
Why? was a question to which his dense brain had still not been answered. He had tried, of course, but no result had been achieved. It annoyed and confused him and he decided to ask someone who wouldn't just grin and tell him to find out about it himself.
However, Ash's thoughts were suddenly interrupted when he felt something warm and soft hold him by the hand. He looked down in surprise and saw someone holding him by the hand.
He looked up and saw Serena's slightly embarrassed, very blushed and smiling face in front of him. "D-does it bother you i-if I hold your hand?" she asked a little stuttering and Ash shook his head.
"No, it doesn't bother me," he said, feeling that peculiar feeling in his chest and stomach again. "Actually, it feels pretty nice"
A wide smile spread across Serena's face and her cheeks flushed a little more. In her mind, a variety of emotions cruised, with joy at the forefront, and hand in hand they continued their journey, Pikachu shaking his head and wondering when those idiots would confess their feelings for each other.
****
They walked a little further until Melissa suddenly stopped and the others stopped behind her as well. They had come to a small forest square lined with various trees and with a large, gray stone in the middle.
"I'm hungry," Melissa said, turning abruptly around so that she watched straight at the others. "What if we stopped here and ate something?"
"Good idea," Ash said and his stomach agreed to growl loud just then. He laughed a little embarrassed and scratched his neck with his free hand. Others chuckled too and Serena also said, "Yeah, I'm a little hungry too, so stopping wouldn't be a bad thing."
"Yeah, I agree," Gou said, turning to look at his two friends who were standing behind him. "Ash, are you helping me collect the firewood and Serena, do you want..."
A long silence, when Gou left staring at his friends and their joined hands. Then he opened his mouth and said, "Wait a minute, why are you holding each other's hand?"
It was then that Gou realized that his friends were holding each other's hand and when he asked about it, it seemed as if they themselves had just realized it too. Both of them looked at each other and blushed bright red, though Serena's blush was a little deeper. Melissa had a long time ago read both thoughts and knew exactly what they thought at that moment. And that made her grin.
Ash and Serena quickly detached their hands from each other and Melissa said with a smirk, "Don't detach your hands, you were really cute when you held them." It at least made Serena blush even more, mutter, "I'm going to look for water," and disappeared into the woods.
Ash stayed watch after her for a moment, which Gou and Melissa, of course, noticed, and Pikachu snickered on his shoulder.
Then Gou stepped beside him and said, "Okay, love bird, let's go look for firewood, while Melissa puts everything ready here." Ash nodded his thoughts still in Serena and said a little absent, "Okay."
Gou pulled him into the woods and Melissa left her hands on her hips to look after them. She shook her head slightly and then began to put the place ready.
****
"Gou, can I ask you something?" Ash asked as he and Gou walked through the woods looking for suitable branches for firewood. Pikachu just handed Ash one dry and thin stick and Ash put it in the small pile in his lap. However, his thoughts were not fully involved in the job and wandered somewhere completely elsewhere.
"Yeah, go on," replied Gou, who was back to Ash, and also picked up one stick from the ground, a little thicker than the one Pikachu had found. He put it in the pile in his lap and then blinked to the ground looking for the next one.
"Have you ever felt..." Ash began and sat down on the trunk of a fallen tree. He put a pile of sticks on the ground and took one stick from it, which began to spin in his hands. He thought for a moment a suitable word, and then continued, "Have you ever felt weird near a girl?"
Gou stopped in the middle of lifting the stick from the ground and then turned to look at Ash. This one sat on the trunk of a fallen tree, spinning a dry stick in his hands and seemed to think of something very focused.
"What do you mean 'weird'?" he asked and walked over to Ash and he turned his gaze to him and stopped the spinning of his stick. He frowned slightly and then said slowly, "The feeling of having a swarm of Butterfree in your stomach and you feel such a strange, fuzzy feeling in your chest and then you want to smile all the time and you can't help but think of that person and.."
"I think I know what you mean," Gou interrupted and smiled at Ash with a sly smile. Ash looked at him and clearly waited for an answer. Gou tilted his head and grinned slightly. "And there's a simple explanation for all that."
"What is it?" Ash asked impatiently for an explanation for his feelings and Gou began, "Easy. You are..."
However, he never got to the end of his sentence, for it was then that a huge roar was heard up close, followed immediately by a shout. The shout made Ash stand up from the trunk and look horrified, for he knew exactly who had shouted.
"It was Serena!" he exclaimed and completely forgot his recent thoughts. "And judging by that, she's in trouble! We have to help her!"
Having said that, he started running in the direction of the voice and Gou shouted, "Hey! Wait for me too!" and he went with Pikachu to follow Ash.
****
Serena walked through the woods looking for something to take water from. Next to her walked Yamper, who walked forward with his muzzle to the ground. Every now and then it raised its snout in the air and sniffed it and then it lowered it to the ground again and continued its journey.
Serena watched as it walked and a smile rose on her face. Yamper (almost) always got her in a good mood and just watching Pokemon often made her smile. The same reaction was caused by someone else, and he was not a Pokemon.
Serena sighed slightly. She had still not been able to confess her feelings for Ash and she feared that this would be the same as in Kalos; she would run up the escalator again at last day and give only a small kiss to Ash. And that wasn't what she wanted.
No, she wanted something else. Something more. She wanted a kiss that would also last. The kind she had seen in those romantic movies. One at the end of which lovers swore eternal love for each other and would live happily ever after. But Serena knew that only happened in the movies, although sometimes she felt like her life was like straight from some series.
She walked in her thoughts, so she didn't notice where she stepped until it was too late. She heard Yamper bark close, but didn't have time to react to it, because that's when she felt something wet in her legs.
She looked down in surprise and realized she was standing in shallow water. And as she moved her gaze forward, she realized that the water belonged to a beautiful pond, (or was it already a lake?) along which reeds grew and on the surface of which a pair of Swannas slowly swim.
Delighted, Serena stepped out of the water and squatted on the shore of the lake. She took her bag off her back and began looking for a container to take the water to camp. Yamper came curiously to sniff at her stuff and as Serena gently pushed it out of her way, it moved to sniff the water's edge.
Serena found some kind of bowl in her bag that looked most functional, and scooped water from the lake with it. She stood up with a bowl of water in her arms and said, "Okay, Yamper. Let's go back to Melissa and then go back with a better container. I guess that this is a bit too small."
Yamper barked happily and Serena smiled at it. Then she turned and set off looking still at the Yamper.
However, her journey back did not last very long, for suddenly she collided with something big and hard and flew to the ground on her back. The water in the bowl spilled on her dress, soaking it and the bowl flew out of her hands.
She looked up to see what she had come across and found herself staring straight into the eyes of a very angry, and big, Ursaring. It glared at Serena angrily and Serena swallowed in horror.
Ursaring didn't like the fact that this human girl had invaded its territory, not at all. It growled warningly and the Yamper next to the girl also started growling at it, and at least it didn't reduce Ursaring's irritability.
It roared and set out to come towards Yamper. Serena decided that Ursaring wouldn't hurt her Yamper and exclaimed, "Yamper, use Spark!"
Yamper barked and then electricity began to gather around its body. Soon it was completely surrounded by a light and shimmering electric current and then it plunged towards Ursaring.
It hit Ursaring's stomach directly and made Ursaring roar and lean back. It fluttered its one hand in a wide arc and its long and sharp nails happened to scratch Serena's left shoulder with three large scratches.
Serena gasped and pressed her right hand over the scratches. Luckily for her, her skin was not broken, so the scratches weren't very severe. However, Yamper did not know this and thought Ursaring had seriously injured his trainer. It began to growl and bark frantically around Ursaring and its body crackled with electricity.
However, Ursaring, for whom Yamper's blow had really done nothing but increase the irritation, was even angrier with Yamper's action and it roared and looked like it wanted to whip Yamper into a pancake with its big paws.
"NO, you don't do that!" Serena exclaimed and settled defensively in front of Yamper and spread her hands to her sides. Ursaring seemed confused by this for a moment, but then its look became irritated again, and it raised its paw to whip Serena, too.
Serena closed her eyes to receive the blow, but it never came. Instead, she heard a familiar voice shout, "Pikachu, Thunderbolt!" and when she opened her eyes, she saw Ash and Gou appearing in the forest, and Pikachu leaping into the air and sending his familiar move towards Ursaring.
It hit Ursaring and caused it to fry. When the effect of the Pikachu's move ceased, it turned angrily towards Ash and Gou and set out to come towards these.
"I didn't think I would battle against angry Ursaring today, but okay," Gou said, took one Pokeball from his belt and threw it into the air, exclaiming, "Scorbunny, use Ember!"
Scorbunny appeared in front of him and also made his move towards Ursaring. It hit it straight in the face and made it stop.
Ursaring roared again and took his paws to his face, which had suffered a nasty-looking burn. It seemed to decide that fighting with these people wasn't a very nice thing to do, and then disappeared into the woods, still holding its face.
They looked for a moment after it until Serena slumped on her knees and looked tired. Yamper looked at her whimpering and then began to lick her hand. It made Serena turn her gaze to the little puppy Pokemon and giggle.
"Hey, that tickle!" Serena said giggling and lifted Yamper into her arms. It licked her face and made Serena giggle even more. "Funny Pokemon," she said and Yamper barked gladly that its trainer hadn't been badly injured.
"Serena? Are you okay?" there was a familiar voice and Serena stopped giggling and looked up. Ash stood in front of her looking a little worried and Serena nodded.
"Yeah, I am," she replied, but Ash's gaze wandered the same time at her shoulder, which Ursaring was scratched, and he said: "Serena, your shoulder.."
"Oh that," Serena said, remembering the matter. She looked at it and saw three cuts in her dress, each showing a bit of skin. "It's not serious, just a scratch. And the dress can be repaired."
"You sure?" Ash asked and Serena nodded again. Ash seemed convinced, for then a smile returned to his face and he said, "Well then. Let me help you up."
He held out his hand and Serena grabbed it with a smile. At the same time, he lowered the Yamper to the ground, where it was happily barking and wagging its tail, and they both giggled at it.
Serena then happened to look into Ash's eyes and noticed that he was also looking directly into her eyes. The blue ones meet auburn's and they both seemed to sink into each other's eyes.
They looked at each other now without blinking and they both stopped laughing. They were now very close to each other and it felt like time had slowed down. Serena was able to count the freckles from Ash's face and...
"Oi! Love birds! We're still here!" exclaimed Gou's hands in a gust and Pikachu and Scorbunny nodded beside him. Ash and Serena looked quickly elsewhere and they both felt the heat rise on their cheeks and Serena cursed in her mind how close everything had been again...
"Kiss later, we have to go back to camp, Melissa must be already wondering where we've been," Gou said and Pikachu and Scorbunny nodded in confirmation. Ash and Serena nodded, too, their cheeks still red, and then Ash called a grinning Pikachu to his shoulder and they headed back toward camp.
****
They got back to camp, where a little worried Melissa was already waiting for them. She asked where they had stayed, but when they began to explain to her, Melissa interrupted them halfway through and said she had already read everything about their thoughts. It made them confused for a moment, but then they continued their chores and without anyone else noticing, Melissa winked an eye to Serena and Serena knew pretty well what it was about.
They had to make new trips to the firewood and the water, for none of them had remembered to bring them with them. But when that thing was taken care of, they finished the food pretty quickly and got to eat.
After the food, they chatted for a moment about something and then decided to finally camp out there in the evening. The evening was already long when they finally got the camp properly set up and they decided to put up a campfire for that evening and tell each other stories for entertainment.
They got the campfire ignited and started telling each other different stories as the sun went down and a beautiful starry sky lit up in the sky and where the silver moon shone light into the night.
Ash and Serena told Gou and Melissa about Lysandre and his plot and their journey along Kalos. Then Ash told a few funny, and a little embarrassing, stories about the early days of his training days and then Serena told a few stories about her Hoenn trip.
After they had told their story, Melissa told the story of her first day as a journalist. The story involved, among other things, one charred camera, a pizzeria baker who had been bitten in the butt by Boltund (then just Yamper), and a boss who had not been very pleased. The story made Ash, Serena, and Gou laugh hard and Melissa remembered her embarrassing first days as a journalist.
After the story, when the trio's laughter had subsided a little, the silence descended around the campfire and only the crackle of a burning tree was heard. Everyone was in their thoughts for a moment and Serena's thoughts returned to Ursaring.
Melissa read it from her thoughts and to take her thoughts away from it, she pointed her words to Ash and Gou and said, "How did you meet? And how did you end up here in Galar?"
Ash and Gou glanced at each other and then Ash began, "Well, we met in Vermilion City in Kanto when we both rode in Lugia and.."
"Hold on a little now," Serena said, sounding very disbelieving. "You rode LUGIA? How... or I don't even ask, this is Ash Ketchum, for whom anything is possible. Continue Ash"
"Uh.. yeah," Ash said, scratching his neck and trying again to find the red line of his story. "Right. Well, after saying goodbye to Lugia somewhere in Kanto, I'm not quite sure where, Gou and I became friends and set off to the way toward the new Lab of Professor Cerise, which openings I had come with my mom and Professor Oak. Let's just say we didn't find it right away."
Ash stopped the story at that point, letting Serena and Melissa digest it for a moment, and then nodded to Gou, who continued, "Yeah, so we arrived at Professor Cerise's lab and told everyone about our encounter with Lugia. The professors were pretty excited about it, especially Cerise, for he asked us for research help in his lab."
At this point, Serena couldn't help, but start giggling. Ash and Gou looked at her in amazement, and she explained giggling: "I'm sorry, but I just somehow can not imagine Ash researcher, Gou maybe, but not Ash"
"Well, that's what we became, though," Ash said with a grin and then Melissa asked, "So what happened next?"
"Well, we worked with professor's researchers for a couple of months. It was actually pretty nice, we got to meet new and old Pokemon and got to many different places. During that time we lived with Professor Cerise and his family, they were really nice, and we also met Professor's daughter Chloe and son Parker," Ash explained, recalling all they had done with them.
Serena could not help, but felt a slight sting of jealousy when she heard that Ash had lived with a girl for many months. However, this feeling quickly evaporated, as Ash did not seem to show any extra feelings when he told of Chloe and Serena breathed lightly in relief.
Instead, she was surprised to see some color on Gou's cheeks as Ash mentioned Chloe's name. However, it took such a short time that Serena just thought she had imagined everything or the light of the campfire was somehow strangely reflected on Gou's cheeks. But what if...?
However, her thoughts shifted to the subject again as Ash continued the story: "After we had been Cerise's researchers for about two months, I happened to hear about somewhere Galar's League. Of course, I became interested in it and asked the professor if it would be possible to take a little vacation and travel to Galar to collect badges and challenge the League. Gou offered to come as my travel companion. The thing suited Cerise, so we packed our stuff, got tickets for the next flight to Galar and here we are now."
Ash ended his story and Melissa clapped her hands and said, "Wow, a pretty interesting story. Especially that Lugia thing. It would be great to be able to fly a legendary Pokemon! And then..."
Melissa continued her chatter and Ash and Gou grinned and answered her questions. Serena, on the other hand, wondered about her recent observations and the possibility that Gou had blushed on Chloe's name anyway...
****
A little later, after the stories had been told, and all that was left of the campfire was a smoldering embers, Ash sat alone beside it, watching the sky. Pikachu had already gone to sleep and Ash had thought to go soon himself too.
"Still awake?" there was a voice behind him and he turned and saw Serena standing behind him in her nightwear. She smiled at Ash and Ash smiled back.
"I just wanted to watch the sky for a moment," he replied as Serena sat down next to him. She also looked at the sky and said with a smile, "Yeah, it's pretty beautiful today."
"Like you," Ash said without thinking and Serena blushed and said, "T-thank you, Ash." Then silence descended between them, but it was by no means an uncomfortable silence, but a calm and comfortable one.
Suddenly Ash felt Serena press her head against his shoulder and wrap her arms around him. He felt that strange feeling in his body again, but this time he couldn't bear to think about it anymore, but also pressed his head over Serena's head and enjoyed Galar's starry night.
However, they did not know that they had spectators. Gou and Pikachu looked at them from the door of the boys' tent and Gou said, "They will someday get their feelings confessed for each other. Probably."
"Pika.." was all Pikachu said until it turned and went to sleep, shaking his head, wondering how hopeless his trainer and Serena were in this thing.