Hey, guys! I'm back again! I always start off these chapters with something like that, and I don't know why! Anyway, seeing as I have nothing interesting to say, let's just get straight to the chapter!
After thirty minutes, Serena started to stir, waking up to see that she had fallen asleep on Ash's shoulder, causing her to jolt upright with a blush forming on her face.
"Oh, you're awake. How was your nap?" Ash asked her, turning to face her as he asked the question.
"It was alright. I had a nice dream, too!" Serena replied, smiling.
"Oh, cool. What was it about?"
Serena blushed. "I don't want to tell you. It's embarrassing!"
Ash chuckled lightly. "I hope it's not anything about me!" He said, jokingly, not noticing the blush on Serena's face get worse.
"N-No! O-Of course there was nothing about you!" Serena exclaimed, looking away suddenly.
"Okay?" Ash murmured, confused as to why she reacted like that.
Ash looked down at his watch, noticing that there were around fifteen minutes of the break left before they would have to go and meet up with Sycamore again for the next activity.
Serena noticed Ash looking at his watch. "What time is it?"
"Time for you to get one of these," Ash said, using his hand to point at the watch, causing Serena to laugh a little.
"Seriously, though. What is the time?" Serena repeated, elongating the 'is' to try and show that she wasn't in the mood for too many jokes, or, at least, unfunny jokes.
"It's bang-on eleven-o-clock," Ash told her, making Serena look at him confused.
"When does the break end?"
"In twenty minutes."
"And why did everyone have lunch forty minutes ago?"
Ash shrugged. "We'll have to ask Sycamore when we next see him, but I'm guessing the next activity is going to last a while, and there's going to be no possibility for us to have lunch while doing it."
"That makes sense, I guess," Serena muttered, before averting her gaze to Ash's shoulder, wondering what he'd say if she rested her head on it again. A few seconds later, Serena practically thought 'screw it,' and decided she'd go through with it, but, at the same time, she may have done more than she expected to do, wrapping her arms around him as she rested her head on his shoulder again, catching Ash off guard, causing him to jump when she did it.
"W-What are you doing?" Ash asked her, feeling the softness of her hair brushing against the crook of his neck.
"I just like this. What about you?" Serena asked him, only just realising that they were in public as she saw a few people walking out of their cabins, heading to meet their friends or something before the next activity would start.
"Y-Yeah, I do like it, I guess."
"You guess? Really?" Serena asked him, trying to fish for the answer she wanted to hear.
"Okay, yes, I do. I do like it! Alright?" Ash suddenly exclaimed, causing Serena to giggle at his embarrassment.
Serena became silent as she nuzzled her face into the crook of Ash's neck, accidentally brushing her lips on the side of his neck as she did it, causing her to blush, but, luckily, Ash didn't notice.
Ash heard a few whispers close to him, but he couldn't be bothered to look However, there was no need to, as a few moments later, Bonnie jumped into his field of vision, followed by Clemont.
"I knew you two were dating!" Bonnie exclaimed, pointing at Ash and Serena, causing Serena to jump up in shock, staring at the two of them as if they were aliens.
"We're not dating!" Ash said frantically before he was scared by Pikachu jumping onto his shoulder from behind.
"Yeah, right! I know you are! That's why I talked to you this morning, Serena. I had to see if you were lying!"
Ash looked over to Serena, confused. "I thought you said she wanted to know about what we are going to do after this," Ash said, causing Serena to blush a little.
"Sorry, I was just too embarrassed about it, and I didn't want to tell you. I was also worried about the possibility of you teasing me about it," Serena said, blushing, also wondering why she was telling him everything.
"I'd never tease you about anything, Serena. Well, maybe a few things, but not about anything like that! Or, would I?"
Serena giggled before noticing that Clemont and Bonnie had left, leaving the two of them alone again.
"Hey, Ash," Serena started, causing Ash to look at her.
"Yes?"
"You know last night?"
"Yeah?"
"Why did you let me sleep in my underwear?"
The question caught Ash off guard, causing him to stammer a little as he tried to actually talk, but his voice failed him. "I-I j-just wanted y-you to b-be comfortable," Ash said eventually. "N-Nothing else!"
"Are you sure?" Serena asked him, believing him a little as that was the excuse he gave the night before, but not believing him completely.
"Yes!"
"Okay," Serena said with a sigh, resting her head back on Ash's shoulder for a few seconds before Sycamore's voice came across the entire camp.
"Everyone, grab a bottle of water from the cantine. The next activity is a hike. The trip will last a few hours, presumably six or seven, so you will need water with you. Afterwards, come to the area in front of the cabins and wait for further instructions."
"A hike?" Ash pondered out loud.
"For that long, too?" Serena finished, just as confused as Ash.
The two of them got up and headed over to the cantine, grabbing a bottle of water before going over to the cabins as instructed.
Sycamore scanned the crowd, making sure that everyone was there, to which he was greeted by a surprise: Everyone was there already! "Right, so, I'm going to need you to get into groups consisting of the same people who are in your cabins. You will all follow me in your groups at least twenty metres behind the group in front of you, just so you're not able to listen in on their conversations. My assistant will be at the back to make sure that no-one gets hurt or slows down too much. So, get into your groups now!" Sycamore exclaimed, clapping twice, signalling for everyone to get into their groups.
Ash and Serena spotted Clemont and Bonnie, heading over to them with smiles.
Sycamore regained everyone's attention by talking again. "Now, everyone line up behind me!"
Everyone obliged, lining up behind Sycamore in their groups, around twenty metres apart from the group in front of them, just as Sycamore specified.
Then they started walking, for a while. Hours. Three hours before they turned back around, heading back towards the camp. They walked through fields, forests, up hills, down hills, and to the base of the Pokemon league's Victory Road before turning back.
By the time everyone returned to the camp, they were exhausted, immediately grabbing dinner before going back to their cabins to go to sleep, which was instructed by Sycamore. Everyone but Ash. Seeing as for the past year or so, he had been travelling around the regions of the world, five to be exact, he was used to walking all day. The hike for him was like a light jog to a marathon runner.
After dinner, Serena, Clemont and Bonnie lunged into bed, falling asleep after a few moments. Ash, however, couldn't sleep. He could only lay there and stare at the ceiling, praying to be euthanised as soon as possible. Even Pikachu was asleep, and he was riding on Ash's shoulder the entire time!
Tossing and turning for hours with no luck, Ash got out of bed and headed outside for a little while to get some fresh air before heading back inside, and, looking over to Serena. She looked so peaceful while she was asleep. That was when Ash realised that he'd never seen Serena asleep while not being in the same bed as her. If he'd had to describe it, he'd say that she's cute, but he'd never admit that to Serena. She'd flip out!
With a sigh, Ash walked over to her bed, leaning down until his face was inches above hers. She was lying on her side, one arm underneath the pillow her head was resting on, facing her other hand which was a few inches in front of her face. Ash took a deep breath, leaned down further, and then he kissed her on the cheek.
Ash pulled away quickly, shocked at his actions. He darted back across the room and into bed, wondering why he did it. If only he knew that Serena was awake.
OH, GOD! This is getting interesting! Before I wrote this chapter, I went back and read all of the past chapters to refresh myself on a few details, so you may have seen a few examples of extra details from past chapters being mentioned. Anyway, leave a review with anything you want in it, as I will approve. Yes, even 'hate.' It's merely constructive criticism, so I'll be happy to hear about what I need to improve. BYE!
