Little trace of Miette or their Pokemon was to be found once they managed to claw their way back to the battlegrounds of the previous day. No signs of Sierra or Beta. Or whoever that Psi character had been. No signs of a fight either. No signs of anything.

Like it hadn't even happened.

That was a worrying thought. Without their Pokemon, there was very little they could so. Worried as Ash was for Miette and his Pokemon, he knew that without them, he couldn't do anything, even if they found them and their aggressors.

It was for that reason they had decided that the best conclusion would be to travel to the next town regardless. They simply had to hope Miette, Pikachu, and all their Pokemon had managed to run there to safety, to inform someone of what had happened to the two of them.


Once they had set off, they had only gotten about halfway through the route before rain made journeying impossible. The raindrops were roughly the same size as a tiny pebble, but that was still large for raindrops. They were lucky, as there was a cave system nearby that they could hide in... Although, since their entrapment with a cave barely a few hours ago, neither of them particularly wanted to. Unfortunately for them, neither of them had a choice.

The cave had a breeze running through it, cold on their soaked skin. It wasn't a particularly deep cave, more live a cavern, going into the cliff-side it was located in only a few meters. There way roughly a meter in moving space width wise, making it about half as big as the cave they had been stuck in. This cave also produced a light echo to the smallest noise, which bounced back at the Kalosian and the Kantoean.

Watching the rain fall rapidly, Ash moved a bit further inside the cave, as drops of water were finding their way into falling inside the caverns entrance. "Wonderful." He muttered sarcastically to Serena. "First, we get trapped. Next the rain tries to wash us away, and finally, we end up stuck in a cave again." He smirked as he said this, trying to lighten the mood.

It didn't work. Serena had barely spoken a word since they had escaped their cave entrapment. As it stood, to her, she was simply embarrassed by everything that had happened.

What was it that had her embarrassed? Well, she had basically confessed her deepest feelings towards Ash, that was a good place to start. Not only he she confessed, she had poured her heart out. Put everything into it, despite nit actually meaning to. It just seemed to... Happen, and now she was stuck with the consequences.

But Ash said he loved her as well.

So what was it she was nervous about?

Irrationality had spread throughout her entire system by the time they had decided to head to the next town, and just hope beyond hope the rest or their group had run on ahead. Had Ash been telling the truth? Was he lying? He had responded so easily compared to her.

Had he been making it up to make her feel better?

"Hey." Ash called for Serena, shattering the icy tension between the two of them, and Serena's thought process. She looked at him, and wasn't able to tell if his face resembled seriousness or relaxation. Clearly he knew he had to deal with this, but he seemed to be smiling almost, but not quite. "I think we need to talk."

The honey-blonde girl simply went red and nodded softly. She couldn't bring herself to speak.

Knowing Serena wasn't going to be able to start the conversation, Ash sighed, and decided he would have to. "...Do you regret what we said to each other?"

Looking at the raven haired Kantoean in front of her, she considered, only for a brief second. Did she? Would things have been easier if she hadn't said it? Would they be less awkward? Or would they just build up until later, making things worse? "I don't know..."

"Did it... Happen how you wanted it to?" Ash asked, knowing it was a silly question. How many people wanted their confession of love to be from inside what was essentially a cell?

"I don't know..." Serena honestly didn't know how she had wanted it to go. She had imagined it In a whole lot of ways, but she didn't know which one she wanted overall.

Raising a curious eyebrow, but keeping his calm face, with the hint of a smile, he then asked, "So... Why did you say it?... Or, well, try to, I guess, before I cut you off."

"I don't know..." Serena answered, putting a bit more emphasis on the final word. Her mind was a muddle, a maze of complicated feelings and a throbbing heart. She had no honest clue. She didn't know anything anymore.

With a slight laugh, Ash's face turned into a bright smile. "Then, what do you want to know?"

Serena blushed, and waited a good fifteen seconds before she answered, considering her choice in words very carefully. She could offend Ash just by asking this... But she had to. "I... Want to know... If you meant what you said."

"Completely and utterly sincerely." Ash responded, without pause. He smiled warmly at the girl in front of him, who was now looking back at him with wide eyes. "I meant every word of what I said. Never think that I didn't."

Completely speechless would be an understatement. How was he saying things like this so... So calmly? How was that even possible? Wasn't he even slightly nervous?

"Serena... If I'd know I'd be as miserable as I was before I left Kalos, I never would have left." Ash said, looking like he was saying something he'd been yearning to say for years. Technically, it was. "Clemont. Bonnie. You. I'd have never left if I'd known how much I was gonna miss all of you... But you in particular. Serena..." The Kantoean was blushing, albeit lightly. The truth of the matter was, he was beyond nervous, but the more he spoke, the less nervous he felt, so he just talked, with confidence and pride. It was really the only thing from keeping him from shutting down altogether at this point. "Serena, I care about you. So much. I really, really do... I'd wanted to - You know know, say it for a while now..."

A word for word description of how Serena had been feeling. the exact same way Ash was saying he felt. Feeling slightly more comfortable, she forced herself to ask him a similar question, "So... why didn't you?"

"Nervous. Worry. Paranoia." Ash said, listing off the various reasons. "Not a good time to tell you. Waiting for the perfect opportunity to... Lots of things..." He sighed. "At the end of all that, I still didn't get the perfect opportunity to tell you before it was forced out of us, did I?"

He felt guilty. Serena could see that on his face. He felt genuine guilt that he hadn't been able to confess in the way he had wanted to. His vision of perfection that he had wanted to confess under. It was pretty unlikely that that would have been inside a rocky cave after getting thrown off a cliff.

But Serena hadn't wanted a perfect confession.

She just wanted to let Ash know how she felt. Maybe she wanted a perfect moment to tell him, but she never really wanted a perfect confession. A confession would be awkward no matter how you did it. They were feeling the after-effects of that right now. It was unavoidable.

"Ash... You don't need to feel guilty about it." She told him. "All I've wanted to do... For a long while now... Is just... Let you know how I felt towards you. And... To heard that you felt the same way that I did... That's all I need for a 'Perfect confession'. " She managed to look at him now, smiling at him.

The smile that she emitted was enough in itself to make the Kantoean smile back at her. And just like that, the tension between them melted, into a warm, comfortable feeling of content. they both knew now. there really wasn't anything to feel embarrassed about anymore. Both their hearts were beating at a mile a minute, but they were alright with that now.

"So... what happens now?" Ash asked, awkwardly. He hoped Serena had a better idea on what the heck happened next, because he had absolutely no idea.

"To be honest... I don't know..." Serena confessed, lightly red. "I-Isn't this usually when people ask each other out on dates, like in the movies?"

"Y-Yeah..." Ash replied, looking out at the still heavy downfall. "...But I feel like we have more pressing matter than that right now..."

"I know, you're right." Serena nodded, fully in agreement. "Maybe when it's over?..."

"Once we find Miette and all out Pokemon." Ash told her, placing a hand on her shoulder. Despite the danger, the worry and the urgency that both of them should have felt, they were both so relaxed. they felt so calm, so totally out of touch with the rest of the planet, that they couldn't even begin to find themselves embarrassed with the lack of space between them.

"Good..." Serena sighed, and rested her head on Ash's shoulder. Before Ash could even comment on it, she was fast asleep, the emotional exhaustion she had been feeling up to this point now finally drained her completely.

Ash was reminded of back at the Castle Revolution tournament, when she had last fallen asleep on his shoulder. That had been when she had cried her eyes out from sheer worry about him.

now she was resting their out of comfort. Out of love.

Ash knew which he preferred, and wrapped his arm around her. No, It hadn't been a perfect confession. No, it hadn't gone how he had ever wanted or envisioned it. But to be honest, he was just as happy it had ended up this way.


Told you this story wasn't dead, guys!

It's been a few weeks since I updated this story after taking a break from it. Had a lot of fun, and did a lot of things during that break, especially with my MariChat story (Which you should totally check out, I honestly think it's one of my best yet) and working on other things. Love, Loss and Loyalty will be completed, I cannot assure you guys of that enough. I will do my best to put my visions of this story into words. I promise, I will get this story done! Sorry this chapter is a little shorter than my usual stuff, but I felt like you guys just wanted SOMETHING.

I haven't actually watched Pokemon for close to a year now, so I'm pretty much running on memory. Maybe that's why I felt the need to take a break. you can only eat so much Jell-o before you end up being sick of it, that's what I'm trying to avoid happening with this story. Been spicing up the variety with Miraculous Ladybug and My Hero Academia - Both pretty damn good shows, damn good.

Updates may be weekly or bi-weekly. Not entirely certain yet. I'll make sure you Amourshippers of my following have some stuff to sink your teeth into while I work on other projects. Thanks so much for your support and understanding of my need for a break, guys. You are some of the best followers on FF. net!

As usual, you can find more on my Wattpad, for slightly sooner updates, and my YouTube for the other stuff I do during the week, all in my profile. If you cant find them while looking for them, don't hesitate to PM me and ask. I'd link it here, but ff. Net likes to delete links.

And as usual, I will see you, in whatever it is, I do indeed decide to write next. See ya!