Day four brings us to episodes 011 and 012 ("The Pledging Tree" and "A Showcase Debut") of the Pokemon XY: A Kalos Adventure Anime. It reflects chapter three of my "12 Days til Christmas" fanfic, where Serena mentions the story behind the blue ribbon that she received from Ash and how she realizes her love for him.

I do not own Pokemon. That right belongs to Satoshi Tajiri. Each chapter will contain songs that are owned by the mentioned artists.

Day 4

E for Elation

Coumarine City

Under the Pledging Tree

Ash's POV

My sixth gym battle was as challenging as any of others I've experienced so far in this journey, Ramos was no slouch on the battle field. I thank Arceus that my friends were there to cheer me on, especially Serena the beautiful blond from Vanderville was my biggest supporter. I've known of her feelings for me for awhile now, and I returned them wholeheartedly. I would need to thank Dawn for teaching him how to notice the little things the female gender would do when expressing their feelings to the males of their species. Serena hid her little quirks and blushes around well enough earlier on, but now I could notice them clearly.

When we heard about the celebration that was happening that evening I was deciding what to get my friends and Pokemon. The four of us decided to separate from each other to get each other gifts. Serena and I went out to shop for ours, we spent time browsing through the shops. There was a shop the had ribbons on display, one particular one looked like a ribbon Serena would like. I went in to the shop and got the ribbon along with a Charm Bracelet for Bonnie (it had a Charmander charm attached to it).

I approached the clerk showing him the I tems and asked, "How much for these?"

"Two hundred Poké dollars sir." The older man said smiling.

I smiled back giving him the money, "Would you mind wrapping them up separately, please?"

"Of course not." He replied.

I smiled satisfied with my gifts for the ladies continued on to find one for Clemont. I didn't know what to get him exactly, but I knew I'd figure it out eventually. For my Pokemon I had planned to get them an array of berries from the forest as they like to eat as much as I do. After getting the last few gift I went back to the station to meet up with Serena, who came back a few minutes after I did.

"I hope you got everything you were looking for Ser." I say to her as walked back to the general direction of the tree.

She smiled at me, "I sure did Ash! I see you've gotten your gifts as well."

I nodded, "Yeah I did."

We saw our Pokemon waving at us as they rounded up by Clemont and Bonnie who smiled at us. We all placed our gift under the tree, waiting for the event to begin. Ramos gave his opening speech to the crowd, thanked Arceus for the blessing , and welcomed everyone to exchange gifts. I gave Clemont and Bonnie my gifts to them, and gave my Pokemon their bushel of Berries to which they thanked me with so much enthusiasm. Now it was time for Serena, I was nervous for this one. I faced her and paused for a moment, she looked really nervous.

"Hey." I say smiling at her as I slid the gift box from my jacket pocket.

She smiled back relaxing, "Hi."

We passed a look towards each other, then exchanged our gifts without a word. I unwrapped the box she gave me and opened the lid, I grinned seeing cobalt wrist band the would be a great place to hold a Key Stone. I took a glance at Serena and saw her wife smile as she waved the ribbon around. Her eyes met mine and she came up to give me a hug, her head on my shoulder.

"Oh Ash I love it!" She says into my ear.

I rubbed her back, "I had a feeling you would love it. And I love the band you got me."

"I thought it would be a great accessory to put a Key Stone on." She said giggling knowing that I thought the same thing.

I chuckled at her guess, "You'd know me well enough for that wouldn't you. I am glad you like the ribbon."

She smiled radiantly stepping back little and leaving a small peck on my cheek. I couldn't help but let a dopy grin come to my face. I returned the favor wanting to see her blush. Then her eyes turned tender, as of she had realized something. I knew she realized that I returned her feelings. She hugged me once more placing her head on my shoulder, I had gotten taller than her during our journey a fact that she seemed to like.

"I love you Ash." She says softly.

I smiled placing a kiss on her head, "I love you too Serena."

Yes, we loved each other. But something was still amiss.

After the Showcase

By the Port

I went after her, after she had ran out of the area. I knew what she feeling, I've went through it so many times before. But seeing her dejected face, the tears in her eyes were cutting my heart. I spotted her standing on the port talking to her Fennekin. She was blaming herself for the lose, and the Fox Pokemon certainly didn't agree with her. Her hair was shorter, he had a feeling she had cut it somehow and though it saddened him, he knew this was part of her growth.

I walked towards her, placing a hand on her shoulder, "Hey Ser."

"How do you deal with it Ash?" She asked and I knew what she meant.

I think about my response for a moment, "You know it has been about six or so years since I've been doing this, and I've had many pitfalls along the way. My first gym battle in Kanto was a bust as I only had Pikachu and our bond was still a bit shaky then. I've lost many battles and felt horrible afterwards. But I never sit around doing nothing, I learned that after my first lose."

"Can you tell me about your time in other regions?" She asked wanting to know what has been happening to me over the years.

I nodded smiling, "Of course."

And so on I went, telling her my experience throughout the other regions. All the losses I suffered in the different regions, the victories I gained, the ups and downs I went through. I got to my time in Sinnoh and coming in forth during the league there. She listened aptly, I knew then that she understood my struggles to become the trainer I am today.

She then asked, "So what did you do whenever you lost a battle?"

"I am firm believer that nothing a person does is waste of time. So I trained and trained until my Pokemon and their skills got better, and I also became a better trainer. By the time I got to Sinnoh I got into the habit of training with my Pokemon, I found out that they're more inclined to train if you do it with them. It also helped me Physically since I did some work outs with them, I gained more insurance as well." I explained to her to which she seemed awed.

She smiled at me taking my hand in hers, "You know, I really hated it when I left Kanto after that Summer Camp. I really missed having you around, even my neighbor Calem who tried to take me with him when he started his journey couldn't make me smile. My mom knew why I was acting that way, but she tried to get me to go with him and I didn't want to. I knew he had a crush on me, my mom did too but both of us weren't really keen on the idea of him and I getting together."

"My thoughts never strayed from you throughout my travels, I always thought that you would enjoy the places we went to. You would probably enjoy Pokemon Contests as well." I tell her squeezing her hand.

"They do sound fun, I'd prefer them to Battles. Hoenn sounds like a nice place. And you say that your friend May is from there." She says looking at me curiously.

I smiled, "Yes she is. You know, when she began her journey she didn't really like Pokemon due at a bad experience from her childhood, she had just wanted to travel the world. I really couldn't fault her for her goal, but as we traveled through Hoenn she got over her fear of Pokemon even befriended a few, it all started with her Torchic. Then she found her true calling as a Coordinator when we discovered Pokemon Contests."

She thought for a moment, "Who knows, if you hadn't found me in the forest back at Camp maybe I might be like May was. Afraid of Pokemon."

"That could be possible." I tell her.

She faced me, pulling me into an embrace, "Thank you Ash, for sharing your experiences with me. You're right, I shouldn't give up because of this experience. Instead I should learn from it and do better next time."

I couldn't help but grin at her response, knowing that what she said was true. I've lived by the idea of never giving up since I began my journey, even when I felt like giving up in some points I never did knowing that one day I would love out my dream, and that I had people would support me through it all.

"You'll be the best Performer of them all! And one day you'll become Kalos Queen." I whisper into her ear.

She pulled her head away from my shoulder and looked into my eyes, "Do you really mean that?"

She sounded so unsure of herself, I never wanted her to sound like this. She reminded me of my younger self when I lost the Evergrand Conference.

"Of course I do Serena! I would never lie to you." I tell her caressing her hair.

She smiled radiantly, "I'll do my best!"

And I knew she would, never having doubted her in the slightest. Her eyes shined with new hope and was ignited by a passion that I have seen before.

"Shame about your hair though." I tell her softly.

She looked at me questioningly, "Why?"

"Well, I'll miss miss the length of it. I liked running my fingers through it." I say to her.

She giggled placing her hand on his chest, "It'll grow back eventually."

I laughed along with her seeing the humor in the situation. We held each other watching the sun set on the horizon. Fennekin looked towards me and did a smile and I smiled in return, we both knew that Serena was going to be fine.

You'll be Kalos Queen some day, Ser. I just know you'll do it. I thought as we walked back to Pokemon Center our spirits high.

Hello all! Yes, I know this is overdue again. But I've been having a rough few days this past week, three days ago my grandma (from my dad's side) passed away, May God Bless Her Soul. I haven't really gotten time to write on here. In this chapter we see the growth of Ash and Serena's bond, it becomes deeper as time goes by. I changed few things here as I still wanted to keep a bit of the original Anime plot points in this chapter.

Alright! A shout-out to karencha.tello.40 for your support of this story. I really appreciate the like and follow. Feel free to drop your thoughts in the comments or DM me if you have any suggestions for future fanfics.

Signing off,

WL_17