The Serena return episode was soooo good, I just had to write somethingggg!
"Cmon Goh, hurry it up!" Ash shouted as he sprinted down the street, toward the town park.
"Ash, slow down!" Goh responded, knowing that it wouldn't really change Ash's attitude.
"We can't keep up Ash!" Chloe sighed, out of breath from running for so long.
"We're already late, I don't wanna keep her waiting for longer!" Ash continued.
"Whatever you say…" Goh chuckled. Ash was never this excited to meet up with anybody, this girl must be special.
Finally, they made it to the park, with Goh stopping to catch his breath and Ash scanning the area for the girl he was looking for.
"Where is-" Ash started, before feeling a tap on his shoulder, "huh?"
He turned around, and was face to face with the girl he was looking for, Serena.
"Ta-Dah!" She announced, throwing her arms in the air with a giant grin on her face. Ash lit up,
"Serena! It's good to see you again!" He excitedly greeted.
"It's good to see you again too!" She replied, beaming, "Even though, we did only see eachother last a couple weeks ago."
"Yeah but that was so fast it didn't really count!" Ash said.
Chloe chuckled, "I still can't believe you both know each other. I didn't realize how good of friends you are!"
Chloe could've sworn she saw Serena flinch at the word 'friends'.
Serena replied, "Yeah, we go way back!"
"Ahem."
"Huh?" Ash turned back around, and found an impatient Goh waiting. "Oh right! Serena, this is Goh, my traveling buddy."
"I remember you from the boat," Serena explained, "It's nice to meet you!"
Goh smiled, "It's nice to meet you too."
"So how's all of your Pokémon, I saw from one of your performance videos Braixen evolved!" Ash started.
From there, the two started catching up on the time they've been apart, with Goh and Chloe just sitting on the sidelines and popping into the conversation every once and a while. Goh had been with Ash long enough to know how he is with friends from past regions, but this girl in particular, he seemed extremely excited with. He could only think of one reason for that, that maybe Ash thinks of Serena as more than a friend, but Goh brushed it off, as the Ash he knew would not know anything about that stuff. Although, it would make sense. The only reason they're back in the Hoenn region so fast is because Chloe had to come for some Contest Performer ball they were having that night, and Ash insisted he and Goh tag along.
Goh heard Chloe whisper in his ear, "They seem a little close, huh? Do you think…"
Goh whispered back, "The girl, yes. Ash, no way."
"You're probably right," Chloe whispered back. She then turned to face Serena and said, "Oh yeah, thanks for letting me know about the ball tonight!"
"No problem! I'm sure it'll be a great time!" Serena replied, "I actually needed to go out and shop for a dress to wear tonight, did you want to come along and get one for yourself too?"
"Oh, I completely forgot I needed something to wear." Chloe sighed, "Yeah it'd be great if I could come along."
"Alright then, I'm sure the three of us will find something good!"
"Three of us?" Chloe asked.
Serena looked confused, but then realized something and chuckled, "Oh, sorry I forgot to mention, Lisia is actually coming along with me as well."
"Lisia?" Goh asked, blushing, "L-Like, the really cute girl on TV?"
Serena laughed, "Yeah that one."
Ash added, "I think Wallace mentioned something about her… but I haven't really heard of her from anything other than that."
Serena said, "Right now she's my main rival in contests, although she's kinda hard to beat in popularity, she's always got a swarm of boys with cameras around her."
From the distance, a thundering sound wave of applause and cheering made its way to the group of four. They all turned to look at where the sound was coming from, and saw a crowd forming across the street.
"Like that?" Ash asked, pointing to the crowd.
Serena sighed and smiled, "Yeah, like that. She must be close, I told her to meet me here before we went shopping."
"Shining! Spinning!" The crowd yelled.
"It's like a battle cry." Chloe said.
At the entrance of the park, a giant limo rolled up, with the sparkly pop star's logo plastered on the side. Then, she came out from the side door, waved to her fans, and sprinted down the park to get to the group of friends.
"Sorry I'm late! Traffic is really bad when you have fans following you wherever you go!" Lisia announced, as she joined the group. Noticing the amount of people, Lisia asked, "Oh, Serena you brought friends… you have friends!" She beamed excitedly.
Serena laughed and replied, "Yeah I have friends… this is Ash, Goh, and Chloe."
Chloe started, "Hi it's nice to-"
"I remember you!" Lisia bursted, "You're the girl I scouted!"
A confused Chloe replied, "Y-Yeah that was me. It's nice to-"
"You had a great performance! I'm glad you decided to continue with contests!" Lisia continued.
"We'll actually, I haven't really decided ye-"
"Does this mean you're coming to the ball tonight?" Lisia asked.
"Yeah, Serena invited-"
"That's awesome!"
Ash, Serena, and Goh watched from the sidelines, chuckling at the exchange between the timid Chloe and the extroverted Lisia. Serena broke their conversation,
"Yeah, I invited her to come shop with us. She doesn't have a dress, like me."
"Oh fun! The more the merrier!" Lisia exclaimed, turning toward the two boys of the group, "Are you two coming too?"
"O-Oh u-us?" Goh stammered, blushing madly at the pop star, "N-No we w-were just here to m-meet up with Serena. Ash and her go way back."
"Ash?" Lisia questioned, looking toward the other boy of the group.
"Yeah that's me!" Ash responded. Lisia stood there for a few seconds, examining the boy with her finger around her chin, leaving everyone in awkward silence. Ash mumbled, "Uh…"
Suddenly, Lisia interjected, "Ash Ketchum! Coronation Series ranked 9th in the entire world?"
Ash blushed, embarrassed by being recognized, "Oh you know me?"
"Yeah, I know you! We ARE both stars after all!" She exclaimed.
"Stars?!" a confused Ash questioned, "I wouldn't consider myself a star…"
"To be honest…" Goh said, "9th in the world seems pretty star-material to me."
"I guess I never thought about it that way before." Ash said.
"Wow, you're a lot cuter in person than you are on TV!" Lisia announced.
Goh noticed Serena jump a little.
"Thanks!" Ash said to Lisia, not really understanding the compliment. Chloe and Goh just looked at each other, trying to contain their laughter. Serena looked like she wanted to interject, with her mouth opened, but she didn't say anything.
"Hey, yknow…" Lisia wondered, quickly settling on an idea in her head. She took a couple steps toward Ash, "...we're allowed to bring dates to the ball tonight!" Upon hearing the word 'date', Goh's mouth gaped open.
"Dates? I guess that would make sense." Ash replied, making Chloe and Goh facepalm. Serena stayed quiet.
Lisia had gotten so close to Ash her face was mere inches away from his, and she grabbed his hands and said, "Do you know the kind of publicity we'd get if we went as a couple to the ball tonight? The number one contest star with the 9th ranked battler in the world!"
"Publicity?" Ash asked.
Serena finally spoke up, stammering, "C-Couple?!" She was still smiling, just with a slightly noticeable nervous flair.
"Yeah, don't you think it's a great idea Serena!" Lisia said turning to Serena.
"I… well…" Serena mumbled, "I-I mean it's up to Ash…"
"Cmon Ketchum, it'd be fun!" Lisia exclaimed, turning back to Ash.
"Sure." Ash replied, "The ball sounds fun!"
Serena sighed and closed her mouth again.
"Cool! This is gonna headline us for sure!" Lisia said, "I'll pick you up at 8!"
"Ok!" Ash replied.
"Sounds good! C'mon girls let's go get our shopping on!" Lisia beamed, grabbing the other two girls by the hand and dragging them off into the distance.
"Oh, bye you guys! See you at the ball!" Ash shouted.
Suddenly, Ash made one final moment of eye contact with Serena, looking again at the girl he hadn't seen in so long. Her face held a mature and confident smile, but Ash could see through that. In her eyes, he saw disappointment.
—
Ash pulled on the collar of his tight tuxedo, lended to him by Lisia's manager, who made sure that Lisia's and his outfit would match for the cameras that evening. Ash still wasn't really 100% certain what was going on, the only experience he had with dates was when Miette asked him to be her date for a similar ball back in Kalos. Then he remembered there was another similarity between that day and this one, in that Serena was also there.
Not only that, but something that was off about her that day seemed off today as well. He saw the same look of disappointment on her face earlier that day back at that performer's dance in Kalos.
"So… Ketchum!" Lisia exclaimed from the seat of the limo across from him, pulling Ash out of his thoughts.
"Huh… oh, yeah?" Ash replied, looking toward the pop star.
Lisia explained, "Tonight should be pretty simple, all you need to do is hold my hand and smile for the cameras when they take pictures of us, I know you aren't great with romance so I'll answer all of the press questions."
Ash sighed in relief, it seemed like Lisia had everything under control. "I can do that. I'm glad you were prepared for this!"
"Oh don't even mention it, I know my way with these things!" Lisia beamed, "Just look cute like you are right now and you'll do great!"
Ash gave an awkward smile at the compliment, not sure what being 'cute' even meant.
"Sooo, while we're waiting…" Lisia continued, "…I'm curious… how did you and Serena meet?"
"Serena?" Ash said, as his brain readjusted to the topic of Serena once again, which had been coming up quite a lot, "Oh, well we first met as little kids at a summer camp, but we really met a little while back in the Kalos region, back before she performed."
"Oh, so you're childhood friends?" Lisia questioned, "Huh…then I'm surprised you two never got together."
"Oh, well we traveled together through Kalos." Ash clarified.
"Er… no, I meant like dated." Lisia re-clarified.
"D…" Ash began to repeat what Lisia had just said, but upon hearing the word come out of his mouth, he felt a strange feeling of embarrassment, "D-Dated? No, it's never been like that between us."
Lisia wanted to press further on the topic, but stopped as the limo pulled into the driveway of the party hall.
"Oh, we're here!" Lisia announced, as the door of their limo opened, revealing a cheering crowd. Lisia held out her hand to Ash, "Here, let's go!"
Ash took Lisia's hand, and they made their way through the paparazzi, stopping to take pictures or answer questions every so often.
"Why did you two decide to get together?" One reporter asked.
Lisia responded, "I've seen Ketchum on TV before, and thought he always looked a little cute. He seemed like a good fit for my date tonight!"
Ash just stood beside her and smiled awkwardly.
Finally, the two of them made it inside of the grand ballroom, which was an expansive space filled with golden architecture and warm glowing lights.
As soon as Ash walked into the ballroom, his eyes located Serena all the way across the building, who was standing beside Chloe. How and why his eyes did this, he didn't really know. But upon looking at her, Ash's interest peaked. Serena's dress was similar to the one from the dance in Kalos, a long red gown, except this particular one was lined with shiny gold decor that really made her whole appearance sparkle.
Ash didn't know it, but he was blushing.
He wanted to go over to Serena, but before he could, Lisia led him down to the dance floor.
Lisia whispered in his ear, "Do you know how to dance?"
Ash looked her in the eyes and slowly shook his head.
Lisia gave him a comforting smile and just said, "Ok, I'll lead, just follow what I do."
Lisia grabbed Ash's hands and placed one on her waist, and in a flash the two of them were moving. Lisia made it extremely easy for Ash, commanding his body through her movements; all Ash had to do was keep up. Did Ash enjoy the dance? Not particularly, he didn't understand the point of it.
Ash's eyes were away from Lisia and toward the ceiling lights, as he thought about the predicament he found himself in at the moment. Him and dancing always never really mixed well, back at that other party, he had danced terribly with Miette, and had to get help from the Kalos queen Aria. Then after that, him and Serena danced for a bit.
Wait, no they didn't.
Oh right, he forgot. The music stopped right before, didn't it?
He remembered the look in Serena's eyes right before the music stopped, as he almost took her hand. She looked nervous, but deeply entranced. What she was entranced about, Ash did not know.
"Um, Ketchum?" Lisia said, breaking Ash's train of thought once again.
"Oh, yeah?" Ash replied, looking back toward the girl.
"Everyone's looking at us."
Ash's eyes widened, and he turned his head slightly to look around the room. Peering eyes surrounded him. Ash almost wondered why, but quickly realized that he was dancing with the number one pop idol in Hoenn, and that this was bound to happen. Everybody around them cheered or whistled, encouraging the two to keep dancing. Ash continued to examine the sea of eyes around him, but one pair looked different from the rest.
It was Serena, who stood across the way in the corner of the room with Chloe, looking at him with everyone else. But while everyone else had looks of excitement or intrigue, all Ash saw in Serena was emptiness, the same kind of empty look she had after her first performance failure.
It was at that moment Ash realized he had not talked to Serena all night.
He wanted to talk to her.
Suddenly, the music ended, and the duo took their bows as the rest of the party clapped for their performance.
One person from the crowd shouted, "You two are so cute!"
Another shouted, "Can we get a kiss?!"
Ash thought in his head, 'A what?"
Lisia placed her hands on her waist with a mischievous grin, saying, "Hm, well I don't knooow…" for the crowd.
Before Ash had time to think, the whole party was chanting, "KISS! KISS! KISS! KISS!"
Lisia turned back toward Ash and stood in front of him. They were face to face.
"KISS! KISS! KISS!"
Lisia leaned forward, and the crowd cheered as she gave Ash a little peck on the lips.
Suddenly, Ash felt a flash of deja vu.
The sensation triggered a lost memory for Ash. His mind exploded with realization, going back once again to his adventures in Kalos, at the very end. Just like that, he remembered everything. He remembered the escalator. He remembered Serena's blushing face up close.
He remembered the kiss.
From there, he thought back on today's events with a whole new perspective.
'I think I made a terrible mistake.'
Coming back to reality, Lisia pulled back from her kiss and the crowd cheered, but Ash wasn't focused on that. He was scanning the crowd once again, his eyes darting back to that same corner as before. Chloe was there, but Serena was gone.
"Sorry for putting you on the spot like that. They really gave us no other option huh?" Lisia apologized, and Ash spun his head back around to respond.
"Oh, don't worry about it." Ash replied.
"Now, Ketchum…" Lisia continued, holding the same glowing expression she always did, "I can tell you aren't very into this."
"Huh?" Ash responded, "What makes you say that?"
Lisia winked, "I can just tell, your eyes are looking all over the place and you don't seem very excited to be here."
Ash opened his mouth to reply, but Lisia continued,
"We got the main press part of the night out of the way, and that's all I needed. You go and do whatever you want now, ok? Thanks for being my date, I wasn't sure I'd find someone suitable until you showed up… you had just the reputation I needed, and not to mention… you aren't half bad of a guy. Have a good night!"
Lisia started walking away before Ash even responded, he quickly exclaimed, "Oh… ok, thanks for inviting me! You have a good night too!"
Lisia turned her head back toward Ash, "Go get her Ketchum!"
Ash's eyes widened, and his expression turned to confusion. He wanted to press for more information, but Lisia was gone into the crowd in an instant.
Ash thought, '…I'll just choose to ignore that for now.' He had something he needed to do.
—
It took him hours to find where she was staying. Being somewhat a star in Hoenn, the places she stayed at were kept very private. Ash had to ask Chloe to call and find out where she was, but specifically without mentioning that it was for Ash.
It was a warm night, and Ash stood outside of the hidden celebrity room in the Pokemon center, reserved in advance for people that needed to be away from the public.
He clicked the door buzzer. It took a minute, but eventually he heard someone on the other side.
"Who is it?"
"It's me."
The buzzer immediately went silent. Whether or not that was a good thing, Ash wasn't really sure.
Suddenly, he heard the creak of the door and saw the light of the room shine into the hallway. Serena, who was dressed in her pajamas with hair more messy than usual, looked with wide eyes at Ash in the hallway. She didn't say anything, waiting for Ash to confirm what she was thinking.
Ash took a deep breath, and started, "Serena… I know we haven't talked as much as we probably would've liked to after meeting each other again, but… I need to… confess something…"
Ash paused, as he noticed tears starting to come down Serena's face. She had her hands over her open mouth.
"S-Serena, are you ok?"
Serena quickly cried, "Keep going! Don't worry about me, pretend like you don't see this!"
"O-Oh, ok… well," Ash reluctantly continued, "J-Just, at that party today I kinda realized what exactly that kiss you gave me at the end of our journey was supposed to mean… and I'm just… so sorry for not realizing it sooner… and I'm sorry especially for going to the dance with Lisia… you probably must have thought I didn't care about you…"
Suddenly, Serena sprinted up to Ash and surrounded him in a tight hug, rubbing her sobbing eyes into his chest.
"S-Serena!" Ash worriedly reacted.
"Don't stop!" Serena said back, in between sobs.
"A-Are you sure-"
"Please!" She cried.
"I-I…" Ash stammered. He took a deep breath, and continued once again, "Serena I just want to finally let you know that I understand everything now, and that I feel the same way as you. I know you've probably had me as a burden in your mind for a while, I know this was a long time coming. Do you think… you can forgive me for taking so long?"
Before Ash was even ready for the answer, Serena brought her lips up to Ash's and went in for a kiss. The kiss was long, Serena definitely took her time, as she was not able to on the escalator. Ash was completely entranced by the sensation, Lisia's kiss was nowhere near like this.
As Serena finally brought her lips away from Ash, she happily exclaimed, "Yes! Of course I forgive you!"
Ash's face was completely red from the kiss, and he felt like he was unable to respond, simply saying, "C-Cool…"
Serena giggled, "This is new… Ash blushing…" she brought her face back into his chest, "I like it."
Suddenly, a grumble was heard from Ash's stomach. Serena chuckled, and an embarrassed Ash apologized, "I didn't get to eat at the party..."
Serena smiled, "I can make something up right now, come in."
—-
It was now 1 in the morning, a couple of hours after Ash arrived at Serena's door. The two were snuggled in the twin-sized bed in the silence of the night.
"Ash…" Serena whispered.
"Yeah?" He replied softly, looking down at the girl whose head rested underneath his. She looked up at him,
"I was having a really bad night until you showed up, thank you so much."
"Bad night…was it because I let Lisia kiss me?"
Serena sighed, "No… it was just… everything…"
Ash felt even more guilty, "...that makes sense…"
"I… thought I had matured past that feeling of helplessness I had all throughout Kalos, that feeling I got around Miette… I didn't want to make our reunion all about my feelings for you… I just wanted to enjoy seeing you again…"
Ash continued, "But when Lisia asked me out, it was like there was no avoiding it right?"
"Yeah, and it just got worse the longer the day went on…" Serena finished, "... before you came here, I was sitting in this bed curled up in a ball, trying not to cry."
Ash felt a spike of pain in his heart, "Man, I'm the worst… I'm so sorry Serena…"
"Don't worry about it Ash…" Serena said, giving him a smile, "All of that's gone now because you showed up." she gave him a kiss on the cheek as a thank you.
Ash sighed. He didn't know what to say, about everything that happened, and especially, about what had to happen now.
"Serena, I'm supposed to go back to Kanto tomorrow and continue with my research assignments…" Ash started, "...but I think… I'll cancel, I don't want to leave you so soon, especially after making you wait so long."
Serena shook her head, "I won't let you."
"What?"
"You're going back tomorrow. You have a dream to accomplish, and so do I." Serena declared with pride.
"B-But…" Ash stuttered, still wanting to make up for the damage he'd done. But then he took another look at Serena's face, and it was different than before. There was no disappointment or emptiness, she was brimming with confidence, just like she was on the dock.
She was happy.
"... never mind. You're right, I'll head back tomorrow. " Ash replied, echoing the confidence of Serena.
"Good, I knew you would." Serena smiled, "We'll see eachother again in no time… I'm sure. Now… let's just enjoy the night while it lasts."
"That sounds good to me." Ash agreed.
Suddenly, an idea sparked in Ash's mind.
Ash smiled, deciding to go with it. He quickly got up out of the bed, bringing Serena to her feet alongside him.
"Wha-…" Serena reacted to the change of position, "What is this?"
Ash chuckled, "I gotta get something out of the way."
He let go of Serena and stepped backward to allow room between them. Ash then extended his hand slowly, and asked, "You wanna dance?"
Serena was stunned at first, staring down at the hand, but then grew a giant grin on her face, and she laughed.
"You know I do." she replied, taking Ash's hand, "Just don't knock into my head like you did with Miette."
There was no music, but that was fine, they didn't need it. Serena and Ash danced around the cramped room to the quiet of the night, enjoying every second of it.
