"There wasn't any way I was gonna be able to win. Their Pokemon were so powerful... And my Pokemon aren't trained for a long, drawn out fight. So, I had to run... I took all of your Pokemon too, because I didn't want them to get hold of them." Miette had explained her reasoning for why she left them in explicit, unaltered detail. The guilt the blue haired girl felt was unreasonable, illogical, as well as unrequired. "I'm so sorry. I didn't want to, but I didn't feel like I had a choice."
"You didn't." Ash reassured her, with a hand sympathetically on her shoulder. "I'd have probably done the same in your position."
"That's garbage." The baker sighed. "You were already putting up a fight before you got sent over the cliff..."
"Yeah, when it was an even fight. I couldn't have taken them all on by myself. I'm not a God of battling."
Having been led back to the town, and to the Pokemon center, Ash and Serena had had their wounds seen to by a medical professional. Serena's wounds were negligible, only needed a few band-aids and plasters. Ash's wounds required some disinfectant. His leg had gotten an infection, but it wasn't a serious case.
Although, treatment of that wound certainly hadn't been pleasant. There had been clenched teeth and grunts through the pain.
Paul being there had surprised the Kantoean. He knew that he and the Sinnoh native seemed to run into one another a whole lot whenever they were both traveling the same region, but this seemed to be the shortest gap of them seeing one another he had on record. A couple of days at most.
Still, he was grateful. He hadn't needed to go out of his way to help search for the two of them with Ninjask. Ash would even go as far as to say it was somewhat out of character for Paul to have done so. Still, he wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth.
"I keep telling you that." Paul said flatly. He was stood a bit away from the group, leaning against a wall, with his arms folded. He wasn't so much engaged with the conversation as he was listening to it, only occasionally contributing to it. "There's only so much a person can do in a situation. I told you he would have done the same.
"If you hadn't gotten out of there, all our Pokemon would have been taken." Serena reasoned with Miette calmly. She understood her friend hated the feeling of being completely helpless in a situation. But she also did think, in her heart of hearts, that Miette did the right thing.
"I'm a bit more concerned with Synthcorp now." Ash muttered, sitting down opposite Miette. "It's a good job you reported it was them, but now no one who works for them can even be found. They've basically become invisible."
"It's a good thing you told the police about them, Miette." Serena told her friend kindly. Miette looked at her with a weak smile, but it was clear it hadn't been enough to raise the blue haired baker's spirits.
"Now the police have an idea, you should let them handle the situation." Paul told the group. He was given three sets of eyes staring at him in return, so he decided to elaborate further. "From what I saw, Synthcrop are absolute savages. All you people would be doing is putting yourself in danger, as well as hindering official police attempts to stop them."
Although Ash hated to admit it, the purple haired Sinnoh native had a valid point. Synthcorp had two members that Ash was aware of, Sierra and Beta, and both were tough like steel. He dreaded to think what the other members of that group would be like, and how strong they would have to be. If everyone was to the same battle standards as Sierra and Beta... They wouldn't stand a chance.
"I don't like it, but he's got a point." Ash conceded. "With our strength... We would only get in the way..." Although, he knew one thing very well.
He gripped his knee with his hands. He had no intentions of going out and looking for them... But... If he ever ran into those people from that company again, and they tried to hurt any of his friends, he wasn't going to rest until their headquarters went up in flames.
Ash and Serena found themselves alone on the balcony on the second floor of the Pokemon center that night, when everyone else had retired to their rooms for rest and relaxation. Serena had knocked on Ash's door, asking to speak with him. He knew why. Both of them had made their way onto the balcony, where the wind was blowing lightly against them, the cool air refreshing both of their heated skins.
Neither of them really knew what to say since their... Charitably called, haphazard confession to one another. Both of them were awkward around one another. Neither had told Paul or Miette yet, because they didn't know how to bring it up.
Serena, in truth, couldn't have been happier with what she had heard... But looking at Ash now... She had fallen in love with the happy-go-lucky Ash. The energetic Ash. The Ash that never seemed to be down. And this wasn't him... And she couldn't help but feel that it was all because of her, and what she said. "Um..." What was best for him... That was what Serena was concerned about the most. That was what mattered. Not what she wanted. "Ash... I-If you want to... Go back to how things were... And just... Forget everything that happened, I - I completely understand..."
Eyes wide open, Ash looked at Serena, with his hands up, like he was surrendering. "What? No, no, that's... That's not what I was thinking." Ash reassured her, quickly. "Not at all... I'm... I'm really glad we said what we did to one another... It'd... It had really been eating away at me for months... But... I'm just... I don't really know what to do now." The Kantoean confessed. He had no idea what they were supposed to do in this situation. He knew next to nothing about dating someone, about being in a relationship with someone. He didn't know how to show someone affection as a boyfriend. He didn't know the first thing about the dating scene... He wasn't sure how to go about things.
Hearing those words, that Ash didn't want to reset their relationship, made Serena feel so happy... But she also understood how Ash was feeling. Truth be told, she had no idea how to act either. She had never dated anyone. What were they supposed to do? "Well... I don't know either." She laughed, nervously.
It wasn't long before Ash joined in on the nervous laughter, and before long, it turned into real laughter. Days of anxiety and stress having built up to this moment of tension, now being washed away with laughter. It made both of them feel so much better, which in turn, made them keep laughing. Once they were able to calm themselves down, Ash managed to ask, "Do you think Miette would have any ideas?"
Serena leaned on the railing and looked out towards the city. She could see various lights from different buildings. Some were off, indicating the occupants were fast asleep. Others were on, showing the owners of those houses were still going strong and long into the night. Then there were some houses whose lights kept turning on and off, like someone was forgetting what they were doing whenever they went into a room. It created a lovely light show Serena couldn't help but get mesmerized by. "If I know Miette, she probably has a list of ideas for dates and the likes for us..."
"She that prepared?" The raven haired trainer asked, with a surprised tone of voice.
"She's been teasing me about my crush for... Months." Serena admitted with a blush.
"Ah... I'll bet that wasn't much fun."
"It wasn't all bad... She certainly... Kept my hopes alive for the time you've been gone." The blonde Kalosian admitted, moving a strand of her hair from her face.
Ash smiled. "You know... I know I told you this when I first got back to Kalos... But I missed you in Kanto. I really, really did."
"I missed you as well." Serena responded, with a soft smile of her own.
"No, I mean... I really did miss you. Took me a while... But while I was over there, I think I got a firsthand experience of what your feelings were for me... And I developed them in tow. I mean... I understand how hard it was for you to be separated from someone you liked... And that someone... Was... Me..." Ash admitted. "I started to feel for you back in Kanto...And now I know how you felt for all this time... And still you're willing to be with me?... You're a loyal person, Serena. You're amazingly loyal."
"You're the one who is amazing here..." Serena returned the compliment with a slight bit of breathlessness to her voice. "I mean... You never gave up. You never stopped believing in yourself. You never stopped trusting in your Pokemon... And you never gave up on your dream... I think it takes a very special kind of person to be able to do that... And that's you."
There had been a certain part of Ash that wanted to kiss Serena right there and then. Instead, he looked out to the town himself, taking in the view. They watched it together, in a comfortable silence, for a few moments, words not needing to be exchanged between the two.
"I don't need to go to Igneous." Ash stated, suddenly.
"Ash?" What was he talking about? Igneous? The region he had been planning on going to? Hadn't he been planning on going there since before he even stepped foot in Kalos? What was he talking about, not needing to go there?
"I don't need to go to any other region. I don't want to go to any other region..."
"What are you?..."
"I don't want to go anywhere if you're not there, Serena." Ash confessed. "You make me feel happy. Special. Important. And you told me those feelings are valid... I don't ever want to let them go now. I want to stay close to you... If you'd let me, that is."
With one swift motion, Serena managed to hug her crush / boyfriend tightly. The act of affection surprised the Kantoean, but he accepted to gesture, and returned it, tightly hugging her back. "Then you don't have to. I want to stay close to you too, Ash..."
They stayed there for a long time, just enjoying the warmth the other gave. This was different to every other hug the two of them had shared. This wasn't a hug of reunions they had had when they first saw each other again after all these years. This wasn't a hug of mourning that they had when they lost their match against the Synthcorp competitors. This wasn't a hug of closure that Serena had asked for when Ash had put himself in danger to protect his Pokemon, nor was it one of comfort, when both of them were trapped underneath the earths surface after being knocked off a cliff.
This hug was just nothing but warmth. Pure, loving warmth. Both of them could feel the other persons warmth, and their own stress and anxiety just wash away from their bodies. Everything was alright. It was all okay. The other one was there. They would be okay.
"Well..." Ash said, with a smile on his face that he couldn't hide if he tried. "I guess we'd better ask Miette what we're supposed to do during a date. I promised you one, didn't I?"
Been a while, hasn't it? When I start a story, I bloody finish it for you guys ^_^ While short, I hope it was something that you guys could enjoy reading. You've all been waiting way too long for me to get back to writing this, so I'm gonna attempt to get back to my One-Update-A-Week schedule with this story. You guys have been so patient with me. I will finish this story. Trust me on that.
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Links to everything is in my profile description as usual, and as always, I will see you in whatever it is I do indeed decide to write next. See ya!
