Kalosian summers were notorious for being warm and for their beautiful weather. The natural beauty of the region came from the Summers that he Kalosians loved. Brochures, and advertisements were almost always focused and made around this time of year. The only other time being in Winter. Both showcased the natural beauty of the region.
Noting such a nice, quiet and generally happy atmosphere as the group made their way down the road to Lilac Lake, Serena allowed herself to bask in the warm rays of the sun. The heat felt so nice, so comfortable on her skin as she walked in the open air. Such a warm day was naught but a joy to Serena, whom had experienced such warm days on average, annually. Little thought went into Serena's relaxation in the summer warmth. She was quite happy to allow the solar rays to hit her skin, as she closed her eyes while basking in the beautiful day.
Miette was the same way. She had let her hair down, and allowed it to flow behind her freely. She allowed herself to quietly enjoy the pleasure of warmth hitting her skin. Miette had a preference for Summer to absolutely any other month. The month was by far her favourite, and she was continuously happy and joyous throughout the months of sunshine, heat, scenery and the thousands of other reasons why the blue haired baker found the Summer months irresistible.
Ash on the other hand, was drinking water like he was a dehydrated Quagsire that had been stuck in the desert for three days. Heat like this, he hadn't re-adapted to it yet to enjoy the heat the others were. He was focusing on keeping himself cooled so he didn't overheat. It irritated Ash, as he could easily remember the times he was actually in the Kalos region, and he could enjoy the heat and the warmth. Returning to Kanto had been like returning to a blizzard, and now, the opposite was true. He watched the other two, thinking how lucky they were to be able to enjoy this warm weather.
In spite of that, Ash managed to remind himself what Miette had told him. Her plans. What she wanted to do. He still wasn't sure of the idea... but he had to face a few facts. The first one being, Miette would follow through with her threat if she wanted to. There wasn't a single doubt in his mind she was capable, and willing, to do something like that. But Ash had never thought she would. Maybe the sight of the two of them dancing around each other was starting to frustrate her. Ash knew it would frustrate him. But the second thing was... He had to overcome his own nerves to do that, and that was going to be a much more difficult challenge.
Never had Ash previously had an issue with his nerves regarding much of anything. Sometimes, he felt a tinge of nervousness at taking part in a league match. Sometimes he felt it in a gym battle, although that had become a rarity. But when it came to Serena, it had become a case of practically all the time. It was so weird to Ash that someone could make him feel like this, but at the same time, make him happy by their mere presence. He had to laugh at the mere concept. Two completely conflicting emotions, battling it out on even ground in his head and his heart.
Ash was completely confused. Totally and utterly confused. He knew he loved Serena, but why did that make him feel like this? Like every move he made around her was like avoiding a landmine, or that every word he said was like trying to read aloud a book on calming an Electrode. Serena's personality wasn't even slightly explosive, so why did he keep coming back to this idea of explosions? Was that just what love was? Just an explosion of emotion?
His head filled with thoughts, Ash forced himself to focus in the walk ahead. Lilac Lake wasn't exactly too far away now, at least according to Serena. He decided he really should focus on these thoughts another time, when he wasn't on the move. He sighed. It was just a shame that it wasn't his conscious choice to think about that sort of thing.
"Someone on your mind?" Miette asked Ash, quiet enough that Serena couldn't hear, from her up ahead lead. She wore her trademark smirk, of course. She knew she was right. Why she even bothered asking was beyond Ash.
All the same, he found himself with rosy cheeks. "Have a guess." He replied sarcastically. Forcing every word he said to have as much sarcasm as he could, exaggerating every syllable at length.
"Venom." Miette said, standing up straight. "So, you come up with a way to tell her yet?"
Ash sighed. Miette really was pushing this, like he had expected. To be honest, he was amazed she hadn't physically shoved the two of them together and gotten straight to the point, so he had to be thankful for that at least. "Im working on it. If I'm gonna do this, I want to do it right..." There was no point, he thought, of doing it as a rushed, slap-dash thing. If he was going to do this, It had to be conveyed right. He wanted to show Serena that he really did care for her, and loved her as much as he did. She deserved that much, at the very least.
"Nice attitude." Miette complimented, patting Ash in the back lightly. "...Have you actually made any progress?"
"...No." Ash confessed. It was a lot easier to come up with scenarios in his head than it was to tale those scenarios, condense them, and them force his flawed self to go through with them. So far, he hadn't actually come up with anything.
Miette sighed this time. "Just... What does Serena say?" Miette asked, searching her head for the quote. "That phrase she uses to motivate herself. Go for broke?"
"Thats easier said than done in this context." Ash had to remind Miette. Her words made perfect sense, of course they did... But it was hard to go through with them like this.
"Thats true." The blue haired baker conceded. She supposed it was cruel of her to decide that Ash was required to confess today, in front of her, in blistering heat, while his mind was barely even on properly. Though, that hadn't been her inention. She had told Ash a few times, she wasnt going to force him to confess to her immediately. He had to gather the strength to do so on his own.
Ash looked at Serena, as she lead the party on her way. It was all about the context in which the confession took place, he thought. If he was just given the right situation, he might just be able to confess to Serena in the way he wanted to. The way she deserved it... Various emotions clouded his head. He would never be able to coherently convey them. He would need a vocabulary of even the finest wordsmith, and even then, he would struggle.
He considered. It really didn't take much to talk to her, did it? To be honest, he sort of felt like he had been avoiding her almost in a way. It was like he didn't want to confront her, so he just skimmed around the place. They had both been overjoyed to see each other when he first returned to Kalos, but it didn't feel much like the old days. He picked up his walking pace, which Miette noticed.
"Its a uh... Nice looking area, huh Serena?" Ash asked, taking a few strides further up, catching up with Serena as quickly as he could without running. Talking to her, Ash had decided, was something he could manage. Heck, it was something he should have been doing anyway! She was his friend, after all.
Serena looked at him from the map, and then scanned the area. It wasn't quite Lilac Lake, but it was a beautiful area all the same. Grass swayed in the very light breeze, and lightly gently reflected off the blades of the green vegetation. All around them were a varied selection of rocky hills. Lilac Lake was located somewhere in the centre of all these mountains, due to millennia of erosion. There weren't any trees, or bushes, or anything like that. It was just grass, the hills, and the skies. It could almost be an area an amateur artist just starting out would try to paint.
"It is." Serena agreed with Ash, having just taken a proper look around. She looked up to the sky, and then back down immediately to the ground, the suns light blinding as it was warm. "You doing okay with the heat?" She asked Ash, concerned.
"I'll be okay." Ash replied with a smile.
"Okay. Let me know if you're feeling dizzy."
Ash chuckled. "I'll try my best not to pass out on you, here, Serena."
Serena smiled to herself. "You better not."
Leaning over her shoulder, the Kantoean scanned the map briefly. He wasn't the worlds greatest orienteer, but he understood a map well enough. From what he understood, the Lilac Lake would be in sight within an hour or two. "I guess we aren't far from the Lake." He commented, attempting to make some sort of small talk.
"Just over the next ridge." Serena told him, pointing at the map, tracing her finger along the path they were on. "We should get there... In about, what, an hour?"
"Looks that way." Ash said, following her fingers trailing across the paper.
"You sure you're gonna be okay?" Serena asked again, the concern this time completely obvious, in her voice as well as her eyes.
"Ill be fine." Ash reassured her gently.
"I hope so..."
"You make it sound like I cant handle a little heat." Ash jokily commented.
Serena chuckled at the innuendo that could be taken from that sentence, but then became serious once again once she had calmed down. "I'm just worried, thats all. I mean, theres all sorts of things that might hurt you, like sunburn, or heatstroke, or -"
"Thats not really too reassuring." Ash commented with a smile. "You may want to work on your bedside manner."
"I just... I don't want you getting hurt..." Serena said quietly, as she folded up the map and placed it in her bag. Her movements were gentle, and her voice soft. Her hands came up in front of her lips, as she lightly bit the tip of her fingers. She knew Ash wasn't going to let a little warm weather get him down. It was going to take a lot more than that to take him out, but she worried all the same.
Ash didn't say anything. Instead, he wrapped an arm around Serena's shoulder and brought her into a small semi - hug. It didn't help his problem with being too warm, but that was irrelevant in the long run. "I'm not gonna get hurt, Serena... But I'd rather I got hurt than you did..."
The Kalosian girl made absolutely no effort to resist, and allowed herself to be half hugged this way, with not a word said against her crushes actions. Instead, after a brief moment of surprise, she quickly relaxed into their half hug, aided only with a blush. "And I'd rather I got hurt than you did..."
Smiling at her, Ash joked, "I guess we'll have to take getting hurt in turns." He wouldn't let her take her turn, he thought. He'd veto her turn to get hurt and take her place every single time. Even if she violently disagreed, the alternative was far, far worse to him.
Serena had the same thought process. "Yeah..."
From behind the two of them, Miette watched their exchange with a small feeling of accomplishment. It hadn't been a huge push, but a step was a step, and eventually, the two would be able to convey the feelings they so desperately needed to release to one another. She smiled at their half hug, watching them quietly, giving them a wide birth of about 5 meters.
I know guys, i know. Short chapter. Not my usual standard. Two words.
Deadline week.
College needed all my work handing in, and i needed to finish everything not done, and improve it all to the best I could.
I missed an uploading deadline with you guys, so this is the best i can do. Im sorry about that, but i hope you can understand.
While I'm here, i think ill answer a few questions.
The last couple of updates have been slap dash works because of my deadlines. Hard to stay motivated when i can barely stay awake outside of college
And to those who are wondering, I stopped doing authors notes because i noticed many other authors didn't do them much anymore, so I thought it would make for a better story if i stopped doing them altogether. Let me know if that was incorrect of me. I know some of you have been concerned about me, to which i say, thanks for the concern, but the removal was because i thought it would benefit you ^_^
Also, I've applied for an actual writing task. Ive applied to be the lead writer of the Pokemon Fan Game Phoenix Rising. Im not sure if ill get the job, but its worth applying for. So a lot of creative thinking has gone into that.
A lot of loneliness and depression has been a part of my life lately, which has affected my morale, but, like I always say, I refuse to give in to it. So I've been fighting that one off with all i can. The way I've discovered is keeping myself busy. So i've been writing my own original works for Wattpad, and working on my Youtube channel (Both can be found in my Profile if you want to find them).
So... Thats pretty much everything there is to say from me. I hope you did manage to enjoy this chapter. The next few chapters with be Amour focused. Getting back to the old One Day Off levels of Amour, like i know you all love. I hope your looking forward to those, and ill see you next time!
Sorry again for such a short chapter.
