"Aren't you gonna say hi when he gets off the plane?"

Miette shook her head. "I figure you two will want to have a couple minutes to yourselves before I show up. I'll hang back a bit. I'll wait for you both by the exit."

Serena tilted her head slightly and raised an eyebrow in concern. "You sure?"

Miette grinned. "I thought you'd be a bit happier to have Ash all to yourself for a while."

Serena went a light red. "In the middle of an airport."

"I can always book you two up in a same room if that's not enough." Miette teased Serena, genuinely half considering it for a second.

"Okay, okay, I get it." Serena said, blushing fully now.

"You wouldn't like that?"

"Will you get out of here?" Serena sighed, flustered beyond control.

Miette laughed lightly to herself and complied, navigating the crowds quite smoothly, making her way to the exit of the airport. Serena sighed and shook the blush out of her. She wasn't sure if Miette was trying to freak her out or calm her down. She seemed to alternate between the two rapidly. Serena wondered occasionally if her friend actually suffered from some sort of weirdly specific schizophrenia.

Either way, she didn't let it bother her for too long. She quickly made her way into the airport, moving through the large quantities of people, sliding between narrow spaces. The amount of people here today was nothing short of ridiculous. Serena saw one or two lines that was simply just not moving, over encumbered with people that it took them way too long to get anywhere. Thankfully, Serena didn't need to bother with the lines, or she'd have easily been waiting for over three hours. Instead, she simply made her way to a much more cleared area of the airport, near some of the exit tubes. She checked the names. Terminal 24, terminal 25, terminal 26...

"Here we are." Serena said to herself. Terminal 31. This was where Ash claimed to be when he got off the plane. A wave of nerves and excitement made another swoops throughout her, making her shiver. She couldn't help but feel she had forgotten something, messed something up, or, just, something. Of course, she hadn't, but she felt like she had. With such a large influence in her life returning for the first time in two years, it was natural to expect these types of nerves, but that still didn't help reassure Serena.

Her nervousness was probably visually evident to anyone who saw her. Her hands were holding one another, and her fingers kept drumming against the opposing hand. She kept biting her lower lips sharply with her teeth, and she could feel her heart beating against her ribcage, like it was trying to escape. Of course she was more excited than nervous, but it was that same excitement causing her nervousness, so the whole process went on in a repeating loop, which didn't go towards helping her heart rate.

She found a seat that was still in sight of the terminal. Thankfully, it was comfy. The inside of the seat was filled with sponge to provide comfort for the people who knew they were going to be waiting for a while. She sat down and took me deep breath, trying to force herself to relax. Just sitting down helped a bit. She found herself going through s small routine. While waiting, she'd unconsciously fiddle with her fingers, inter winding them, or running her fingertips against her opposing hands nails. Once she realised she was doing this, she'd force herself to stop, only to find herself biting her lip a few moments later. She had found herself with way too much time to think everything over, again and again.

It would be wrong to assume she was going to do anything but smile when Ash eventually arrived. She couldn't wait to see him. She just couldn't. She was nervous, but it was a happy nervous. Anticipation would be the word she would have used. She was anxious to see him, she felt like she was going to burst in excitement. She had to seriously resist the urge to burst out giggling to herself. She occasionally had brief waves of dread, but they didn't last long. A thousand emotions swirling throughout her veins made it hard to think.


Ash woke up with a start, feeling his body being pushed violently, and then bouncing back to its original position. The plane had landed. He clutched his head for a few seconds, gritting his teeth in slight pain, before it wore off as quickly as it came.

"Ow..." Ash muttered, his head spinning for a moment. When had he fallen asleep? He remembered reading before he fell asleep. He remembered a battle. Something to do with a gym leader with a Torkoal or something? He rubbed his eyes and nudged Pikachu. "You alright, buddy?"

Pikachu yawned, woken at the same time Ash had been. Though, Pikachu had suffered less damage than his trainer. He quickly shook his head, to wake himself up, and then hopped onto his feet, where he looked at his trainer and nodded his head this time, and slower this time, telling his trainer he had been fine when the plane landed. "Pika pi, Pikachu"

"Good." His trainer said, groggily. Where even was he? He didn't really remember. He was too sleepy to remember right away. He glanced out the window, staring for a few moments, not really taking in the information as it was passed to him. He simply stared outside, watching the view change as the plane - What would the correct term be? Docked? - at its terminal. The pilot made some sort of welcome speech, and reminded everyone to make sure all their items were taken with them.

Ash yawned, and then it clicked. "That's right, we're in Kalos..." Once his yawn finished, he stood upright. "Oh yeah, Serena!" He lightly blushed to himself. Just exactly how asleep had he been that he forgot about his return to the Kalos region? It had been a very deep sleep. He doubted he would have woken up normally for a few more hours. Probably into the double digit numbers.

Pikachu hopped onto his trainers shoulder, and made an excited squeal. Pikachu had evidentially not forgotten the reason for their trip here.

Ash smiled. Let's get moving then, eh, Pikachu?"

"Pika!"

The two walked down the terminal in relative silence, but with huge grins in their faces. The terminal was crowded, and they were at the back of the line of people, due to Ash's confusion and sleepiness, which had prevented him from being the first up. Even then, he had been sat the back end of the plane. So there wouldn't really have been a way to get to the front first without shoving the people in front of him back Into their seats, which was just straight up plain rude. So Ash had to simply bite his lips and wait. It felt like an eternity had passed when he was asked to be metallically scanned. In reality, it had only been half an hour. He casually dropped his Pokeballs, Pokedex, and any other metallic equipment he had in him. The scanning itself was event-less. But it felt like it was taking hours. He kept mentally asking the staff to hurry up, but in reality, he understood. They were just doing their jobs. He couldn't really be mad about them doing their job correctly. That wasn't fair.

Didn't help him calm down, though.

Once through these scanners, he grabbed his electronics. He checked a clock. That had only taken two minutes. He blinked twice. Maybe he should force himself to relax a bit...

He quickly re-stuffed or re-attached any metallic equipment on his person, and made his way to the exit. Finally. He was sweating. The humid air from so many people crowded into one building at once made him long for some cool air. Thankfully, the airport had predicted this. On the exit terminal, there were one or two air conditioners active, for the public comfort. Ash could hear sighs of relief and comfort from the people who passed them. Once he was in range of the air conditioners blast radius, he couldn't stop himself from doing it either, and grinned from ear to ear. It was glorious, simple as that.

Ash followed the exit terminal still. Once they neared the exit, finally. Pikachu seemed to perk himself up while on Ash's shoulder. His ears twitched. And his nose seemed to have picked up something, because that also twitched. Without a lot of warning, Pikachu hopped down from his trainers shoulder, and ran through the remaining crowd ahead of him, navigating his way through the space available. No one noticed. They were focuses in getting the hell out of this terminal.

"Pikachu?" Ash called for his partner Pokemon, but he didn't get a response.


Serena's legs swung freely underneath her seat, both of them occasionally hitting each other as they passed one another. Hey hands were joined together, resting on her lap. She had seen some people leave various terminals. Even a few from Ash's supposed terminal. But she hadn't seen him. She was beginning to think she was at the wrong terminal.

She bit the inside of her lower lip lightly. "Maybe I should wait by the exit with Miette. It might make finding each other easier..."

She pulled out her phone, checking the terminal number. 31. It still checked out. No updates. She decided to trust her message, after some inner turmoil. She had to trust it. She had to trust Ash.

Her head lazily scanned the area. There seemed to be a few school children crowding something near the entrance to the terminal. She raised an eyebrow in curiosity and adjusted her posture so she could get a better angle. Nothing helpful.

She continued to watch. There wasn't s lot else she could do. She could play some game on her phone or something. Maybe she could help glamour up Sylveon. Something to kill the time.

Serena watched as something made its way out of the crowd of excitable children that had surrounded it. A Pokemon? Serena glanced around for the Pokemon she had just momentarily seen.

A Pikachu stood upright, on its back legs. It glanced around the airport, as if scouting the place out. Serena's heart thudded for a second. "Are you?..." She whispered to herself.

The Pikachu's ears twitched once Serena had said this. Despite the noise around, it seemed to respond to Serena's voice. It's nose twitched next, now in sync with its ears. It turned to face Serena.

And it ran towards her with a happy squeal.

Serena stood up. It was.

"Pikachu!" She smiled immensely, holding her arms out for the yellow mouse Pokemon. Pikachu happy jumped up into his friends arms as soon as he was in range, squealing in happy delight. He hadn't seen Serena in so long. He was fond of Serena. He liked her. She was fun.

Serena held Pikachu just under her chin as she gently hugged the yellow electric type, not wanting to hurt her friend. Pikachu's fur was soft and sleek, like she remembered it was.

Pikachu quickly broke free from Serena's hold, and hopped to her shoulder, and then on top of her head, smiling happily. Serena smiled and even laughed lightly. "It's so good to se you, Pikachu!" She was happy to see a Pokemon she had gotten to know so well again. It was almost like getting to know a person to her. She didn't see a huge difference between being friends with a person or a Pokemon. But she was even happier knowing what this meant.

"Pikachu, where's...?"

Pikachu was waving its arms in the air towards the terminal enterence. Serena refocused her sight.

There he was.

That had to be him.

Different clothes. Longer hair. Slightly tanned.

But there wasn't a doubt.

That was him.

Ash.

He was faced away from Serena, looking around. For Pikachu, most likely. He seemed to snap his head quickly from one cluster of people to another, only really focusing on the clusters that had patched of yellow in them. Serena suddenly caught onto what Pikachu was doing, parching itself on top of her head. He was acting like a signal for Ash. He was higher up. Once Ash looked this way, there wouldn't be any way he could miss his partner Pokemon, unless he was blind.

Ash scanned over a few more groups. Then he saw.

Serena's heart almost exploded right there and then.

There he was.

To her, he looked different. Not so that she didn't recognize him, but there were a few differences that stood out to her. His outfit was the first one. A darker colour than she had known him wear. It suited him, she thought.

The next thing she noticed was how much older he looked. It wasn't a lot, but defiantly noticeable from the last time she saw him. All the changes on him were subtle. He seemed more refined, if that made sense. His shoulders seemed more broad, and he seemed more muscular than she remembered him.

What she noticed the most though, were the changes in his facial appearance. Again, not much had changed, but he conveyed such a different person from her eyes, while retaining the same person he was at the same time. His eyes seemed more narrow, colder, but warmer at the same time. Like he was capable of making terrible, difficult choices, but he had always found ways around them. He still had the same overall look to him, just at a glance.

It was still Ash.

Ash recognized Serena at a glance.

It was amazing how much she looked the same, par a few minor differences. Her hair was longer for one, and she seemed to be using accessories instead of a hat, most likely out of a fashion choice, he assumed. She seemed a bit taller.

And that was it, that was where the differences ended, as far as Ash could tell. She had changed a bit in her personality. He could tell. More relaxed. Composed. More confident, brave, although her posture now could easily fool someone just onlooking from a distance.

She was nervous, no doubt about it. It was natural. Ash would be lying if he said he wasn't nervous either. But she still stood there. She hadn't left, or made excuses, or just lost her nerve. She was still there. That's what proved her growth.

It was an awkward couple of seconds. Both of them stared at the other, neither too sure of what to do. It was a crowded airport, so they couldn't just yell and wave over to the other without creation some sort of scene. It wasn't a case of run and hug the other person. Again, too many people for that, and both of them were feeling a bit awkward about the sight of the other. It was surreal to see each other again.

This only lasted about three second though. Ash was the first one to break this brief, if awkward but pleasant stare down. His lips curved. A smile, quickly becoming a grin. His stance relaxed, and he pulled the bag on his back up more, so it was in the center of his back. With his right have, he held it up at about chin height, signal of his acknowledgement, and a wave, simultaneously.

Serena saw the Ash she knew when she was young, the Ash she knew two years ago, and the Ash she had been waiting for, all at the same time. She couldn't help but smile. She didn't even notice she had smiled back at him. She was navigating through the crowd as fast as she physically could.

Pikachu had hopped off the Kalosian trainers head, and onto her shoulders, hoping to avoid the incoming traffic of humans heads and carelessly loose limbs. Clinging in tightly, he couldn't help but squeal happily.

The two stood opposite each other eventually. Ash, ever so slightly taller than Serena now, looked down to Serena, and Serena looked at Ash in awe. The two of them unsure what to say.

They simply stared at one another for a few seconds, before Ash finally smiled, and chose to break the silence. It wasn't the most dramatic thing he could say, but it was the best he could do.

"Hey."

Serena seemed to tear up, and, before Ash could react, he found himself being tackled, hugged by the now happily crying Kalosian girl, her arms wrapped around him tightly. She might regret this later. it might make things a bit awkward later on. Right now though, she couldn't care less.

"Hey."


Sorry about the slight delay on the upload here guys. College work has really been piling up, so that's taken priority. So, I'd like to thank you all first of all for all the support. It's been great guys. The fact so many of you want to see what comes next is all the motivation I need. If I hear that one of you guys smiled reading this, I will work harder just for that one person. So thanks all of you for making my days.

So, before I go into my usual ramblings about my writings below, I'd just like to also say - to those of you who messaged me about your decision to try writing because of my rambles last chapter - thank you so much for letting me know. You all made my day, you really did.

I'd also like it known that I God damn called that Serena's Eevee would become a Sylveon.

So, couple of things I learned from last chapter - I really need to keep these outros shorter, and the second thing is I've finally decided that I'm going to peruse a career in writing for games, stories, manga and of course, still here. I've been brainstorming ideas, and I've come up with a few.

To name a few concepts, a plague that infects people, but instead of killing them, the plague takes over the brain and forces the occupants to worship them, and the plague can only be transmitted via forcing one of the plague cells into another human, which causes them to hunt down non infected survivors. If you've watched plague inc evolved, Think of the Neurax worm virus. Pretty much that, only with a couple twists. The title I have in mind for this project is currently "Contingency - Survive"

A second concept I have is similar to the Mass Effect Tali romance plot line, with a few differences. (because let's be honest, Tali is best character in Mass effect.) The idea for this is a nuclear war has destroyed the Earth. Humanity's home world is destroyed. 300 years later, a traveling fleet visits this grey planet, and finds a specimens astronomically well preserved. Using their vastly superior technology, they find a way to bring this one human back to life. The name for this is "Cosmic Hand".

So - if I were to write these, would you guys read them? This is the main question. And where should I upload them? I'd upload them here, but unfortunately won't let me upload totally original stories here unless it's under the name of some contents.

Either way, I do really hope you enjoyed Ash and Serena's reunion. I know you may be disappointed, but trust me, I'm playing the long game here. I always work with a plan ^_^

But either way, be sure to leave reviews, and let me know what you thought. And I'll see you next time. See you!