Thank you very much for the reviews, I hope you'll enjoy this (updated) third chapter!
Chapter 3: To The Future
A new day had finally arrived. Ash slowly opened his eyes, while doing so, he quickly noticed that there was an eclipse- the sun was nowhere to be seen! His eyes quickly adjusted to find Iris, who was beaming at him. She quickly panicked and jumped out of the way, her sudden movement cause the sun to shine right through to Ash, which he wasn't expecting. His gave a small gasp as his eyes took time to adjust to the brightness, she must have been watching over him for a while. Iris stood there, giggling in the background.
"Good morning, Ash!" she said gracefully. She was already wide awake.
"Good morning, Iris..." he replied in a tired voice, he was still rubbing his eyes.
"Come on, I want to show you something!" she said in an excited tone. Ash had no time to react as she quickly grabbed his hand and start running. She was definitely back to full health as far as Ash was concerned.
Iris led Ash on for what felt like miles, but she never said a word. Ash felt a bit puzzled with many different feelings lapping around his mind. The main was: "Where are we off to?". He was very lost now, having never been to Unova before, he didn't know what was happening. Occasionally, she would glance at him, as he just gazed at her. He didn't know what he was doing, but for some reason he was naturally drawn to her...
After what felt like hours of constant running, Iris stopped Ash at what was one of the most remarkable sights he had ever seen. A secret end of the forest with different flowers of all different colours with different Pokemon.
"Not many people have ever seen this part of Unova, I found it very recently, and claimed it as my own, so it's my own unique hideout!"
"Wow, this place is incredible! So is this where you live?" Ash asked in a confused tone.
"I suppose so... Here, sit down and let's talk about everything!" she said, in a hurried manner. Both of them sat down on the grass, and began to talk.
"You see, I've only just started my journey... My aim is to become a dragon master, I come from the Village of Dragons after all! But I don't really know how I'm going to accomplish that, and to be honest it does get quite lonely sometimes out on your own..."
"Yeah I hear ya, that's why I always travel with friends!" Ash responded happily.
The mentioning of the word 'friends' seemed to sadden Iris, she looked down and sighed.
"What's wrong?" Ash asked.
"You see Ash, I don't really have any friends... I ran out of the Opelucid Academy to start my own journey, but still, I'm always alone. I know I have Axew, and my other Pokemon, but that's different from having an actual person with you isn't it..."
"Don't worry Iris, there's someone for everyone!" Ash said with a wide grin, hopefully suggesting something to Iris. Regardless of whether that worked or not, he moved on to his next question...
"What do you remember from that explosion yesterday?"
Her eyes widened.
"Blackness... and those piercing red eyes... It had been in my nightmares ever since I was little... It's Kyurem, the dragon and ice type Pokemon. In ancient mythology, it used to eat people and Pokemon and night time, which is why everyone's scared to go out at night... I don't want to be alone when it's around..."
Iris wasn't completely settled, and was becoming a bit delirious from it all. Tears started to come to her eyes.
Iris: "I don't feel safe anymore Ash... Ever since I found this place, it feels as if everyone is onto me. I don't get it.."
Ash got up and sat closer to Iris.
"You don't need to be alone though..." Ash said softly to her.
"But who will help me? I feel as if the world's against me all of the time..." Iris replied out of frustration.
Ash soon saw his opportunity, and slowly held onto Iris' hand.
"You don't need to be alone, I won't let that happen anyway... Why don't you come with me..?" Ash realised this was a bit of a bold question. "I mean only if you really want to, but I will be here for you all the time anyway..."
Iris started crying "But it's following me, the red eyes.." She said with tears flowing down her face, bracing herself for Ash to inevitably retract his comment.
"If there's any trouble, then it'll be my problem too!"
Iris lifted her head in disbelief. Someone actually wanted to be with her! She felt blessed, it was a once in a life time opportunity. She gazed at him.
Wow... Thank you so much, Ash. Will I be a bit much though for you..?"
"Never, I'd love to have you along with me! After all these years I'm used to it! I've got Pokemon to discover and dreams to fulfil, I'm sure you have too, you just need a new start."
Iris was overjoyed by this, and to Ash's surprise she gave him one massive hug. He didn't quite know where this was going, but he never wanted it to end, so he just held back onto her. Iris looked up into Ash's eyes. Ash looked back. The two shared feelings for each other that both of them had never experienced before. Iris wrapped both arms around Ash and leaned in to kiss him straight on the lips. Out of sheer joy, Iris found herself lovingly kissing a boy that she only met yesterday. It felt so right though... She could stay in the same position forever. Ash felt the same, amazed by how the start to his Unova journey had gone.
Iris soon pulled her lips away from Ash, and tears started to fall again. This time, they were tears of joy. No element of fear was left inside of her anymore, she finally felt safe, with Ash by her side.
"Thank you so much..." Iris whispered into Ash's ear.
The future was set out in front of them. Ash knew that even after the various different people that he had met along his path, that Iris was different. Iris knew that after an age of feeling alone and unloved, that Ash was different. As they walked off down the path of route 1, they both shared glances at each other. Both of them knew that the other was more than a friend...
Well I'm sorry for what is probably a disappointing end to the story. Coming back to this and continuing it was a very difficult task, but at least it has an ending now. I'll be back soon with another NegaiShipping fanfic, until then everyone!
