A/N: Hey guys! I am so terribly sorry that it took me this long to update the story. I know I promised you to have more regular updates during summer and instead... the updates became even more sporadic. There are a lot of reasons for that, such as me losing my computer, my girlfriend claiming the sole rights to me for a few weeks, a concussion and a fractured skull that sent me straight to the hospital and some other irrelevant stuff.
Anyway, I am back and hopefully this return-chapter can SMASH the 200 review-line, giving me the motivation to update more frequently. I know it's possible if all of you guys go out and just write a few nice words in the review sections, it's been done before. We only need 33 reviews to make 200 reviews and one of the previous chapters made 49 reviews. So I know you can do it guys!
Oh, and you guys... I have actually tried to find a way to give you guys more frequent updates on my progress on new chapters so I went out and got myself a Twitter that I will link in my profile so you can get more frequent updates on how I'm doing on my stories and what progress has been made. I'll try to update it daily or at least once every two days, but if something comes up I might not be able to... I'm still not quite sure how that thing works, but I'm working on it! But ah well, you guys didn't come here to read about that, you came here to read the new chapter so here goes!
Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon or anything else that might be included in the chapter!
Chapter Seven: Whatever lies beyond this morning
The first thing that registered in Ash's mind when he woke up was the light weight on his right shoulder. As his sense returned to him after a long morning of sleep, his nostrils picked up a faint smell of some kind of flowery perfume. Curious to where the smell could be coming from, Ash slowly opened his eyes. At first, his vision remained a bit blurry, but as he blinked away the sleep from them, a long mane of honey blonde hair came into view.
Serena was resting her head against his shoulder sound asleep, no doubt still exhausted from the previous night. For a moment, Ash just stared at her in wonder. Last night, he had been so focused on trying to ease and comfort Serena that he hadn't really faced his own realization. He had found Serena again. After 7 years, he had finally met his childhood friend again.
For a moment, he just stared at her face, revelling at the sight of her. She looked so familiar, yet he could easily make out several changes from the little girl he used to know. Her hair was slightly longer than it used to be, reaching down past her shoulders, while in the past it used to stop by her shoulders. Her face used to be a little chubbier than it was in the present and her overall build was a little bit thinner than he remembered. Not that she used to be fat or anything, but she used to be a little chubbier overall than she currently was, probably due to her baby-fat not having vanished completely before she moved.
And that wasn't even taking into account that she had grown a lot taller. He was pretty sure that he used to be noticeably taller than her when they were younger, but now they were about the same height. Seeing her like this, all grown up, made Ash realize just how fast time had flown by. Just looking down at her, it felt like it was only yesterday he had watched her car disappear through Pallet Town's gates, never to return.
He sighed as he slowly and carefully lifted her head off his shoulder and instead rested it against the back of the sofa. Serena should be allowed to sleep, especially considering how late into the night they had been awake.
Trying his best not to make a sound, he got up and carefully made his way out of the room. When the door closed behind him, he looked around in the hallway, trying to remember which doorway would take him to the kitchen. Thankfully, he remembered quite clearly which door Serena had dragged Shauna off through the night before. She had said that they went to get some drinks, so he would guess that door led to the kitchen.
Making his way into the kitchen, Ash found that he wasn't the only one awake. The house's other three current occupants were all sitting by the table, talking to each other with hushed voices. When Ash entered the room, all three of them looked up towards the doorway and Grace's Fletchling, that had been sitting on her shoulder, took to the air and flew over to Ash and began flying in laps around his head.
"You're up early." Brock stated simply.
"I was hungry." Ash answered, as he looked around the kitchen for anything to eat.
Now that he actually thougt about it, he and Serena had both missed dinner last night. They had been so caught up in each other that they had completely forgotten about the world around them. Okay, that just sounded plain wrong, but that was basically the sum of it, at least for his part. He had been so worried about Serena and how she was feeling that he hadn't been able to think about anything else.
For some reason, both Brock and Grace seemed to find this funny, because they both snorted as soon as he said it. When Ash gave them a questioning look, Brock once again took it upon himself to speak up.
"Of course you were hungry. What else would possibly be able to drive you out of bed this early in the morning?" he said with a grin.
"Oh, ha ha. Very funny." Ash sweatdropped.
Apparently, Shauna thought it was funny, because she giggled over in her seat, despite a futile attempt to hold it in. After a few seconds of struggling, she seemingy calmed down and settled for grinning at towards Ash. The boy in question just sent an annoyed glare in Shauna's direction, but didn't say anything, instead opting to look around the kitchen for anything to eat.
Smiling softly at the familiar, yet foreign sight of Ash looking around her kitchen for anything he could devour, Grace stood up and went over to help him find what he needed. Knowing him, Grace felt like she would probably need to go stock up on groceries later that day.
"How's Serena feeling?" she asked while they worked to set up a good breakfast. Herself, Shauna and Brock had already had theirs, since they figured Ash and Serena would most likely sleep well into the day and therefore didn't see any reason to wait.
"Dunno." Ash shrugged, as he cracked a pair of eggs into the frying pan. "She was still asleep when I left her, but she seemed to have calmed down enough when she fell asleep yesterday."
After giving the frying pan a shake to make sure the eggs didn't get stuck at the bottom of it, he sighed and became awfully solemn, something that was very unusual for the otherwise cheerful young man. But he couldn't really help it. Everything about this whole situation just reeked. It just seemed so wrong to him, and to know that he had made such a huge impact to cause it without even knowing it. Clenching his fist over the handle to the frying pan and gritting his teeth in frustration, he spoke up again.
"I can't believe Serena would lock herself up like that. Was I really that important to her, that it was worth bottling herself up?"
Brought out of her own thoughts, Grace turned to stare at Ash.
"Are you being serious right now? You meant the world to her Ash! To her, you've always been more of a family than I ever was."
Hearing herself say that, Grace almost flinched at her own words. She hadn't meant to say it, but no sooner had the words left her lips before she knew that it wasn't a complete lie. Even though Serena always had and always would regard Grace as her mother, she knew that her daughter had always been much closer to the Ketchum family than she had been her own. It hurt to accept, but she knew that it was the truth. When Serena was young, during the time a child needed their mother the most, Grace had done nothing to live up to her role. Everything had just been about her career back then. If she had to go away over the weekend in order to compete in some faraway city in a race, she would just drop Serena off at the Ketchum's and be off.
How could she have been so stupid? In hindsight, she could see that her priorities had been completely messed up. She had eventually come to her senses and begun to care more for her daughter and actually take the time to interract with her on a permanent basis, but by then it had already been too late.
"No way! I mean, we were best friends but I could never be more of a family to her than you could!" Ash exclaimed in shock, his solemn mood temporarily forgotten by the shock from Grace's claim.
Over by the table, Shauna and Brock had engaged in a quiet discussion about what regions Brock had visited so far and what he thought was the most important thing to keep in mind for a first time traveller. They didn't seem to have a care in the world and were completely oblivious to the emotional talk the room's other two occupants was having.
"She kept running out into the forest every morning, you know. Even after we moved." Grace said with a sad voice, thinking back to those first horrible weeks after they moved to Kalos. She remembered how Serena would always run outside as soon as she had woken up, sometimes even skipping breakfast, only to return after a few hours with a broken look on her face. "Somewhere deep down, she must have known that no matter what, you wouldn't be there, but she just couldn't let go."
As Grace went on to tell Ash about Serena's behavior over the weeks that had followed after they moved, the boy couldn't do more than stare, but the more he heard, the more guilty he felt. It wasn't his fault that it had happened, but while Serena had went through all that, he himself had moved on and lived his life back in Pallet Town. Sure he had been pretty torn up after his best friend had moved, but with time he had just pushed it all aside. By the sounds of it, Serena had done he exact opposite and dug herself deeper into the hole during the months that followed her move to Kalos.
"Why are you telling me this?" Ash asked, feeling his heart sink in his chest.
Some of what Grace was telling him now he remembered from the night before. Serena had brought up a lot during their little night time talk, but most of it had been centered around her feelings, not her actions. Hearing it from Grace's point of view told more of Serena's actual actions than Serena herself had revealed.
"Well..." Grace faltered for a moment. Why was she telling him these things? What could that possibly accomplish? She honestly wasn't too sure about it herself. They had just mentioned Serena and suddenly she was spilling her view of the events to him. "I guess... I just needed to get it off my chest. I couldn't sleep last night because of all these thoughts running trough my head."
"Or maybe," a soft, yet firm voice said from behind them, "you are trying to ease your own sense of guilt by sharing it with someone else?"
Hearing that voice, that all too familiar voice, both Ash and Grace froze and turn around. Leaning against the wall opposite to them, stood Serena with her arms crossed over her chest. By the looks of it, she had woken up somewhere within the few minutes that had passed since Ash had left her. Her hair was a little ruffled and untidy from sleeping, but otherwise she looked to be wide awake. And on top of that, she didn't look too happy, as her saphire blue eyes fixed on her mother.
Even though he wasn't the one stuck at the receiving end of Serena's piercing gaze, Ash felt himself shiver slightly at the intensity of her gaze. It would seem as if Serena had recovered from her breakdown last night. There were just so many emotions behind those eyes when they were fixed at Grace he was surprised that she hadn't taken a step back.
"How much did you hear?" Grace asked, taking a deep breath to try and calm herself.
In another time, she might have just excused herself or tried to counter Serena's claim by changing the subject, but not this time. This time, she knew what damage that kind of behavior had done to the girl standing before her, and that same girl was about to leave on her own Pokemon Journey any day now. This might be the last chance she had to patch things up with her daughter. Whether it made her feel uncomfortable or not, she would have to face what had been caused by her own actions.
"I heard enough." the honey blonde girl answered, her gaze still fixed on her mother.
For a moment, no sound was made in the kitchen while the two young women stared each other down, one with a look of firm resolve, one with a look of insecurity. Even Brock and Shauna had broken up their little chat to see what was happening over by the stove.
Standing just beside Grace, Ash could practically feel the tension that leaked off the mother and daughter, but tried to keep himself from intervening. He didn't want to see them break out into an argument first thing in the morning, but at the same time he felt like maybe they needed to settle this between each other. While he too had played a crucial role in the situation becoming what it had been, it wasn't his place to patch things up between Grace and Serena.
"Uhm... maybe we should wait outside?" Brock asked, gesturing to himself, Shauna and Ash.
"No thanks," Serena said before Grace could say yes. "This won't take long."
Grace, who had opened her mouth to answer as well quickly closed it. She had never seen Serena this adamant about anything. Sure, she had always been a very headstrong girl, at least since they moved to Kalos, but she had never seen the look Serena now had in her eyes. While it wasn't a friendly look, it wasn't the same, rebellious look she had grown used to seeing whenever they disagreed on someting either. She wasn't quite sure what to make of it.
To everyone's great surprise though, it wasn't to Grace that Serena spoke when she finally broke the tension hanging in the room. Instead, she turned towards Ash, and her gaze softened for a moment.
"She's right." she said with a soft, almost sad voice. "I kept running out into the forest every day, hoping that somewhere down the line, everything would just turn out to be one big nightmare and that I'd find you there, waiting for me like you always used to."
Here, she stopped herself and turned back to look at Grace.
"However, you're wrong at one point. I never thought of Ash as my family anymore than I did you. You were always my mother, you and no one else, that was why it hurt so much to constantly be pushed to the side."
Thinking back to the times they were talking about, when Grace was still an active Rhyhorn Racer, Serena felt her throat constrict painfully. However, she forced down the urge to tear up. She had cried enough already. After having spent an entire night crying in Ash's arms, she was done crying. She had always hated crying, because it made her feel weak. So she swallowed to try and ease her throat and kept pushing her point.
"I didn't want to feel like I was some kind of second priority. I wanted my mother to care for me, to put my well being over everything else, the same way Delia always put Ash above everything else. But you kept pushing me away, always having something more important to do that would help your career. The move to Kalos was just the drop that caused the goblet to overflow."
Opposite to her, Grace was starting to tear up, hearing Serena finally open herself up to her. Every word she said felt like a slap in the face, but at the same time it felt good, which in turn only made her feel worse. She shouldn't feel happy, she should feel horrible, but yet she felt her heart warm up when she heard Serena admit that she had always regarded her as her family. After hearing what she had said during the previous night, Grace had felt like maybe Serena had felt more connected to Delia and Ash than she had to her. After all, she had probably slept more nights in the Ketchum's guestroom than she had in her own bed back in Pallet Town.
"Why?" Serena's voice was barely more than a whisper. "Why couldn't you give me that? All I wanted was to feel truly loved by my own mother. That was all I ever wanted from you, but you failed to really give me that impression. You spoiled me with expensive toys and stuff whenver you could, simply because you could, but if you look back, did I ever touch those things? Did you ever see me play with them? Did you ever see me play anything at all?"
Finally, the tears that had threatened to spill from Grace's eyes ever since last night fell and she raised a hand to her face to cover them up, though she knew it was futile. Beside her, Ash caught Brock's gaze and despite Serena telling them to stay, Brock and Shauna began to leave the room. Ash moved to follow them, feeling like maybe Serena and Grace should be allowed to keep this private, but as soon as he moved towards the door, Serena took a step forward and grabbed his hand.
Looking up in surprise, he found his childhood friend's eyes locking with his own, silently asking him to stay with her. This was a hard conversation for her as well, she needed his support. After casting an unsure look at Grace, who had given up on hiding her tears by now, he looked back at Serena and nodded. Serena offered him a sad smile, thanking him for his support, before she turned back towards her mother, waiting for an answer to the question she had spoken. Ash turned along with her and place a comforting hand on his friend's shoulder, trying to convey his silent support.
"No." Grace shook her head. "No, no and no. I never even saw you play anything at all when we lived in Pallet. I..." her voice cracked and she trailed off. What was she even trying to say? Nothing she could think of would make up for her past actions in any way.
Serena looked at her mother with a sad look. Despite all her faults and mistakes, she was still her mother and nothing would change that. A part of Serena felt shamefully good seeing her mother break down like that as some kind of retaliation from all the pain she herself had went through because of her, but most of her felt bad for having caused Grace to break down because deep down, she knew that Grace truly did love her. If nothing else, that had become more apparent during the later years when Grace's career had ended and she had calmed down enough to see what was actually in front of her this whole time.
"Mom." Serena spoke with a much softer voice, getting the attention of her tearful mother. "I want our mistakes to be undone too, both yours and mine, but we can't change what's happened. Those mistakes will always be there, both those you made and those I made. None of us are innocent for letting this become what it became."
Hearing the change in Serena's voice, Grace look up to meet her daughter's gaze in surprise. Before, Serena's voice had been challenging and carried a sense of disappointment but now it just sounded... sad.
"For a long time now, I've felt like our family could never become what a family should be like. But after last night, I've come to realize that it is that mindset in my head that has kept our relationship from repairing over the years." Serena kept on pushing her thoughts. "Time can't heal the wounds inflicted back then if I want them to stay open. These last years, I've seen with my own eyes that you've really tried your best to repair the damage you did back then, but I've turned a blind eye to those efforts."
Beside her, Ash couldn't help but smile. Serena had really taken his words last night to heart. It really didn't do to dwell on the past. You can never move forward if you keep looking back. He was happy that Serena had realized that now.
"I want us to start over." Serena said, taking a step forward, away from Ash's comforting hold and closer to her mother's tearful face. "Nothing neither of us do now can change the fact that those mistakes happened, but we can do everything to keep it from affecting our future. I can forgive you for hurting me back then, if you can forgive me from keeping the wounds open."
Barely had she finished her sentence before Grace engulfed her in a hug. Serena stiffened at first, but soon relaxed when she heard her mother's whispers of acceptance. As she hugged her mother back, she felt a strange warmth spreading through her chest. It wasn't uncomfortable in any way, quite the opposite in fact. It felt actually felt good to forgive. Despite herself, Serena couldn't help but smile into her mother's hair as she leaned against her mother's shoulder, but just as she did she became aware that her cheeks were wet. Was she crying again?
But she couldn't care less.
These weren't tears of sadness or despair, like those tears that had fallen from her eyes over the last few years. These were tears of happiness. Happiness over her mother's forgiveness and the feeling that they were actually a real, caring family. How long hadn't it been since the two of them shared a real hug? Serena couldn't even remember, that was how long it had been. That was how long it had been since the two remaining members of the Gabena Family had shared an honest hug.
-X-X-X-
At the top of Prism Tower, in the Lumiose City Gym Arena, the dust was finally starting to settle. In the stands, a few young trainers were sitting, looking awed at the battlefield that was still covered in dust. In the first row, Bonnie was holding her breath, waiting for her brother's pokemon to emerge. On one side of the field, a blonde boy with glasses in a light blue jumpsuit was standing, sweating from the battle that had taken place. The Lumiose Gym Leader, Clemont, had known this was going to be a tough battle, considering what the pokemon he was facing off against had done to the city just a few days ago, but he had never imagined it would be this big a difference between himself and his challenger. While Axel wasn't even close to his cousin in strength or fame, but this battle had proven that he definetely was no pushover.
On the other side of the field stood Clemont's challenger, the younger cousin of the Sinnoh Champion, Axel. His long, spiky red hair had been ruffled by the shockwaves from the explosion that had just shook the arena, but that didn't keep the young man from grinning in excitement at the intensity of the battle. The young man let out an excited "Heh!" as Garchomp let out a proud roar and blew away the remaining dust with its wings, revealing itself to be unscarred from the clash. Clemont's Heliolisk on the other hand, looked like it had seen better days. It was panting heavily and its tail looked burned. It had also received a few bruises from the explosion that had happened when Heliolisk had attacked with Dragon Tail, only to be countered by Draco Meteor from Garchomp. Like during the incident when Garchomp had gone berserk, Axel's partner had opted to send all the meteors straight towards his opponent, instead of having them rain down over them. It made it harder to aim and hit a direct mark, but it doubled its power almost tenfold if all meteors actually hit their target.
"Looks like this battle is coming to an end, eh Clemont?" Axel called over the field as he crossed his arms in front of his chest and studied the damage that had been done to the field in question. Truth to be told, he had been hesistant to use Garchomp for this fight, still not quite sure that his partner had recovered from the incident a few days ago, but judging by the holes in the ground and the black marks on the ground that suggested that enormous amounts of heat had recently been released here, it would look like Garchomp was just fine.
Clemont grit his teeth and glared at the Land Shark Pokemon opposite to him. He should have expected as much from this Garchomp. After all, he had known this pokemon for quite some time now. It used to greet him whenever he swung by Professor Sycamore's lab, but up until just a few days ago, he had been completely oblivious to the power that was hidden underneath that friendly behavior.
After what had happened when Garchomp had gone berserk, Clemont had known that he would have a tough time when Axel came by and challenged him to a Gym Battle. And if Garchomp's strength wasn't enough to make him worried, he was also put on a type disadvantage because of Garchomp's Ground-typing. Since Clemont was an Electric-type Gym Leader, most of his tactics were based around Electric moves and manouvers, all which were essentially useless now because of that blasted Dual Typing.
With that in mind, the only moves Heliolisk knew that would do any sort of damage to Garchomp were Dark Pulse, Buldoze and Dragon Tail, two of which had proven to be ineffective against Axel's Garchomp so far. Bulldoze didn't do much damage and it could also be easily countered by Garchomp rising into the air. Dragon Tail, while it would be the logical choice of move based on typing since Dragon-type moves were Super Effective on Dragon Types, had so far proven to be too dangerous to use since it required Heliolisk to get in close in order to hit. Getting in close combat range for Garchomp was risky and if Garchomp didn't want to clash in close range, it knew enough long ranged moves to keep Heliolisk at bay.
That only left Dark Pulse, which wasn't exactly an ideal move to use either. While it didn't have any of the drawbacks that the other two moves had, it didn't have any advatange either. It did neutral damage and it didn't receive any stab boost either, since Heliolisk wasn't a Dark-type. But despite that, he didn't really have much of a choice.
"Let's get this over with! Heliolisk, use Dark Pulse!" Clemont called as what he knew would be his final move. Even if he by some miracle managed to take out Garchomp, he would still have to go through Axel's second and third pokemon and he could see that his partner didn't have the strength to do that. It wasn't that he was weak, he was simply too tired.
Heliolisk gave off a screech and formed a sphere of rotating black rings in between its hands before thrusting his hands forward and shooting the rings towards Garchomp in the form of a beam. The Land Shark Pokemon didn't even move a muscle, patiently waiting for his trainer's command before he took any sort of action.
Seeing that Clemont was trying to advance again, Axel quickly analyzed the situation. Dark Pulse, while a very powerful move, was still easy to avoid since it was shot in a straight line. All Garchomp really had to do was to take two steps to the side and the beam of dark energy would just pass harmlessly by. And even if it did hit, he felt confident that Garchomp could take the hit, since it wasn't a stab move and wasn't Super Effective against any of Garchomp's typings. Smirking to himself, Axel decided that it was time to end this.
"Garchomp!" he called to his partner, who immediately tense up, ready to follow his orders the moment they were given. "Dodge and use Dragon Rush!"
Lifting itself off the ground, Garchomp avoided being hit by the Dark Pulse as he took off into the air. Once it was flying high enough above the ground, the horns on the side of his head began to glow light blue, before an powerful, flaming aura surrounded him and took the form of a Dragon's head, with Garchomp being in the center of the head. Garchomp zig-zagged through the air, his roars sounding like a mighty echo, before it finally shot off towards Heliolisk, who barely had enough time to blink before the Dragon Rush hit it, causing a ground shaking explosion to wreck the arena and sending Heliolisk flying back and crashing into the wall behind Clemont, knocked out. Having performed its move, Garchomp gave a satisfied "Gar!", before landing in front of his trainer.
Seeing that Heliolisk wouldn't get up, Clemont sighed and pulled out a Pokeball to return his partner. He had done all he could, and Heliolisk had pushed himself to his limits to last as long as he had against Garchomp, but with the disadvantage they had, it was really no surprise they lost. They had done all they could, and no one could ask any more than that from them.
"You were great Heliolisk. That Garchomp was tough and more than half of your move poll was essentially useless against him, It wasn't your fault that we lost. I guess we just need to work on how to counter Ground-types better." he whispered to the Pokeball before putting it away and move to congratulate Axel on beating him.
Barely had he made it half way across the arena before Bonnie had run up to her brother and embraced him, or his legs at least, in a hug. Clemont couldn't help but laugh in amusement at his sister's behavior. She always became like his when he lost a battle.
"I can't believe my brother lost to such a weirdo!" she muttered under her breath.
"Bonnie!" Clemont repirmanded at the jab against Axel. "I've told you a thousand times, it doesn't matter who wins or loses. What matters is that both battlers do their best and have a good time. I'm still happy, even if I lose, as long as I learned something from my defeat. And I learned a lot during this battle."
Opposite to the two of them, Axel and Garchomp watched them as they made their way over to the two siblings. Axel couldn't but grin at the display of affection between the two siblings. It kind of reminded him of how he had Cynthia had been when the were still kids. Sure, they had only been cousins, but there weren't really that many children growing up in Celestic Town at all so they always ended up playing together anyway. They might just as well have been siblings as well.
"You know," Axel said as he stopped in front of Clemont and Bonnie, Garchomp coming to a stop just behind his back. "I'm glad you're feeling that way. Glad to know not all Kalos Gym Leaders are as salty after a defeat as Ramos."
Hearing this, Clemont couldn't help but laugh nervously and scratch the back of his head. Yeah, he knew Ramos could be a little... peculiar at times. He had met the old man once or twice during the Gym Leader meeting. It was a tradition that all Kalos Gym Leaders would gather once a year, just to get to know each other, since they were co-workers and all. It was also a great time for all of them to finetune their skills and ask for advice regarding a specific type and how to counter it.
Axel however didn't seem as amused as Clemont at the thought of the Grass-type Gym Leader. He sighed and shook his head and crossed his arms over his chest as he thought back to his previous Gym Battle.
"Old coot kept complaining that "tha whippersnappers of t'day ain't got no spine" when I showed up with a team of Fire-types." Axel said, before looking up and putting his hand to his chin in thought. "Of course, I'm still not sure if he was angry that he lost or because I burned down the stands to his arena during the battle but really, who builds an arena made out of wood for Pokemon Battling?"
Clemont didn't know what to say to that and instead settled for searching his pockets for a Volt Badge he could give away as proof that Axel had beaten him. Behind his leg, Bonnie was staring up at Garchomp with a little worry etched into her features. She had just witnessed this dragon completely demolish her brother's team and truth to be told, he could look quite intimidating when he wanted to. However, as soon as the battle had ended, Garchomp had gone back to his normal, childish behavior, no longer having to stay serious and on his toes, so he bent down to try and get on eye level with the little girl that was watching him. Axel noticed this, and couldn't help but laugh.
"Wait, let me help ya." he said as he too bent down and put a hand on Garchomp's head, as to show that his partner wouldn't bite, before he locked eyes with Bonnie. "See? He's not dangerous. When he's not in battle, he's as harmless as a Rattata. Got it memorized?"
Hesistantly, Bonnie walked out from behind her brother's protective leg and went up to Garchomp to pat him. From there, it didn't take long before she was laughing and commenting how cute Garchomp looked when he wagged his tail like a Growlithe. Axel grinned at the two before standing back up and turning towards Clemont, who had finally found a badge to hand out.
"Well, I guess I should be going then. Though I've gotta say, it was a wise choice to set a minimum requirement of 4 badges to challenge this Gym. With all the newbies passing through Lumiose City, you would probably have no time to even sleep if you didn't have that and in all honesty, you're pretty tough. You just had a really bad matchup against Garchomp, that's all." Axel commented.
"Yeah," Clemont said and scratched the back of his head at the praise. "That was kind of why I set it. Lumiose City is Kalos Metropol, it's central to the region so everyone who travels the region is bound to come here sooner rather than later, and I don't want to waste my time with newbies who barely knows what's up and down on a Pokeball."
Laughing at that, Axel bid the Gym Leader farewell and told him that Garchomp could stay for a bit, since Bonnie seemed to enjoy play with te Dragon-type. After having lived in the city for a few weeks, Garchomp knew his way around Lumiose City good enough to find his way back to the lab without problem. With that, he left the tower and began to make his way back towards Professor Sycamore's Pokemon Lab.
As soon as he was out of the tower though, his thoughts drifted back to his conversation with Cynthia the previous day. She still hadn't called back to tell him when exactly she would arrive, but if she was willing to travel half way across the globe to talk with him, then it had to be important. But well, since he didn't know exactly when she would arrive, he would have to assume that it would take a few days, so he had some time to kill off. What could he do with those? He didn't feel like wasting them running errands for Sophie or Professor Sycamore. While he didn't want to call himself unhelpful or lazy, he would admit that he wasn't as helpful and enthusiastic as Ash...
Wait, that was it! Ash had been sent to Vaniville Town to deliver a Starter Pokemon to a Rookie Trainer. And if he was really serious about challenging the Kalos League (and Axel would be willing to bet his hair that he was dead serious when it came to that) he would most likely challenge the Santalune City Pokemon Gym, since it was on the way back to Lumiose anyway. If he hurried, he might be able to make it there in time to watch that battle. After all, he was curious to see what it was about Ash that made Cynthia hold that kid in such high regard.
-X-X-X-
Following the morning's kitchen drama, life seemingly returned to a more normal pace in the Gabena household. Ash and Serena had been allowed to eat their breakfast in silence while Brock and Grace cleaned up in the kitchen and Shauna went back home to drop off her things and tell her mother that Professor Sycamore's "aides" had arrived. Currently, the two childhood friends were sitting in the living room, waiting for the others to come back so that Serena could finally get to pick out her Starter Pokemon. While they waited, they talked about how Ash's journey had gone so far and what his hopes were for Kalos.
"I'm aiming for 1rst place of course! What would be the point of taking the challenge if I didn't hope to win?" he exclaimed when Serena asked him about it.
His reaction to her innocent question caused Serena to laugh. What had she been expecting? He wouldn't be Ash if he wasn't aiming to become the very best! That was his dream after all, it had been his dream ever since they were young.
"Good point." she smiled at him. "I'm still not sure what I want to do with my life yet. That's why I am going on a journey. To find what I want to do!"
As she said it, she scratched the back of her head nervously. Back when they were kids, she had always said she wanted to complete the Pokedex and see every Pokemon in the entire world, but that didn't feel quite as appealing anymore. Maybe it was because of all that had happened since then, but she just didn't feel like that was what she wanted to do. However, that left her withe th question what she really wanted to do, because she sure didn't want to follow her mother's footsteps and become a Rhyhorn Racer either.
Ash smiled at her. It felt good to see her in better spirit. Yesterday, and by extent this morning, had been really hard on him as well. Meeting Serena again had been great, aside from the fact that she had hit him in the head once or twice, but all the drama that had surrounded their reunion kind of cast a shadow over what should have been a happy occasion.
He couldn't believe that Serena had bottled up so many sad and painful feelings. It had made him feel so... well, sick would be a good word, to hear of all the times she had locked herself in her room and just cried because she didn't feel at home or because she missed him. And what had he been doing when all this happened? Tried to plan out the best way to ruin Gary's reputation because of his stuck up attitude... Yeah, some friend he was. But at least they were past that now, and if she needed him like that ever again, he would be there!
"I'm sure you'll find something during our journey!" he said with a grin. Then, his expression suddenly changed to one of slight nervousity as he realized something and felt a feeling of dread overcome him. "You do want to journey with me and Brock, right?"
They had never actually discussed the upcoming journey. He had just assumed that she would want to travel with him and Brock, since that had been their dream back when they were kids, but now that Serena actually mentioned that she didn't know what she wanted to do he suddenly felt unsure.
What if she didn't want to travel with him? He had felt sure that she would want to come with him and Brock, but now he felt like perhaps he should have asked her first. Taking things for granted would come back to bite him in the butt, sooner or later. How would he feel is Serena said no? Would he be able to accept that? He had just gotten her back! He couldn't lose her again!
While Ash was struggling with his own thoughts, Serena had frozen in place where she sat. She could come with him? Ash wanted her to join him on his journey? Up until now, the thought had never even struck her that now that they were together again, they could go on a journey together like they had dreamed of when they were children! She wouldn't be walking a lonely road in a foreign region after all! The thought that she could really travel with her Ash caused her heart to pump faster in her chest. This was too wonderful to be true!
"Yes... Yes, yes! Of course I want to travel with you!" she said as she grabbed him and pulled him close into a hug.
Ash let out the breath hadn't known he had been holding when she said her first "yes", but barely had he done that before he got pulled forward into Serena's hug. He would have hugged her back if he had been able to, but it was kind of hard when his face was pressed into Serena's...
"Ehm, Serena?" he gasped out as he felt something soft being pressed against his face.
"Hm?" Serena asked as she looked down on Ash, whose face rested tightly against her buddling chest. "Kyah!"
She shrieked in shock and embarrasment and immediately let go of Ash, who fell back against the sofa while Serena flew out of her seat and quickly put a few steps between them, all the while blushing furiously. What had she just done? She had been so happy to be invited to come along with him that she hadn't thought about what she was doing, or noticed that Ash had fallen forward when she hugged him. Hugging him in an outburst like that was bad enough, but to actually press his face against her chest like that... it couldn't get much more embarrassing for a teenage girl!
Over in the sofa, Ash felt himself blush furiously at what had just happened. Even though he had never been one to think too much about girls, he was still a teenage boy after all so being pulled against Serena's soft chest inevitably made him feel a little... well, he couldn't quite explain what it was that it made him feel, but whatever it was it caused him to turn as red as a tomato.
After a moment however, he regained enough of his bearings to sit up straight again, though his face was still red. For a moment, he looked over towards Serena, who met his gaze, before both of them looked away, still blushing. Why was his heart beating so fast? Whatever it was that had been triggered within him, it made his heart beat almost at the same pace as it did when he was engaged in a very intense Pokemon Battle. He would've never thought that anything would get him even close to being that much worked up, but somehow Serena had managed that.
"Uhm..." Serena swallowed to try and get her blush and flurry of emotions under control. "That never happened, okay?"
"Y-yeah." Ash said, surprised at finding that his voice cracked slightly. "Sounds good to me."
Shaking her head, Serena went back over to the sofa and sat down, though she made a point to sit a little further away from Ash than she had initally sat during their conversation. Ash didn't seem to mind at all so she took that as a sign that he too wanted to move on from that embarrassing moment. Desperately trying to come up with something they could talk about that wouldn't make her think about what had just happened, Serena was brought out of her thoughts when the door to the living room opened and Brock, Pikachu and her mother entered the room, obviously done in the kitchen for now. She hadn't even noticed that Pikachu had left them t themselves. She could swear he had been here just a few minutes ago...
"So, are you guys ready to get this underway?" Brock asked as he sat the bag containing the Pokeballs down on the table.
Glad to have something to take her mind off... that, Serena eagerly stood up. Ash mirrored her actions, his embarrassed expression quickly being replaced by one of excitement. Seeing new Pokemon always got him hyped, so he gladly accepted this distraction from his tangled up thoughts, because they didn't make any sense in his mind anyway.
"I'm ready whenever you guys are!" Serena said, feeling excitement overtake her. This was where it started, her new life would branch out from this very moment where she chose her Starter Pokemon and set out on her journey.
"Hey! Don't start without me!" a shout sounded from the door, interrupting Brock, who had just reach inside the bag to pull out the first Pokeball.
Not a second later, Shauna came rushing into the room, panting from having run all the way back to Serena's house from her own. To be honest, Serena had forgotten that they were supposed to wait for Shauna in all the embarrassment and excitement, but figured there was no reason to dwell on that since she was here now. Considering what had just happened, she felt like she could justify letting that little detail slip from her mind. However, that did remind her of something that should not be allowed to slip her mind.
"Uhm, can I ask a favour of you guys?" she asked, making bot Ash, who had bent down to pick up Pikachu, and Brock, who had pulled out the first Pokeball to release it again, look up. Ash nodded, showing that she had their attention. "You see, Shauna wants to start her journey as well and we figured that since there is actaully 3 Starter Pokemon here now, she could have one of the remaining ones, after I have picked mine? Do yout think that would be okay?"
Shauna blinked in confusion, but then she realized that they had never actually asked Professor Sycamore if it was okay that they take two Pokemon instead of one out of the three he sent here. Turning towards the two Kanto Natives, she found Brock standing with his arms crossed while Ash was looking at him expectantly, seemingly unsure if it would be okay or not.
"Well," Brock said. "I guess it wouldn't hurt anyone if we gave out two Pokemon instead of one, but we'll have to ask Professor Sycamore for confirmation before we make it official, okay? You can pick one in the meantime, because I doubt he'll say no, but just keep in mind that we have to call him before you leave on your journey."
That seemed to be a good enough answer for Shauna, because she practically looked like christmas had come a few months early. She had stars glimmering in her eyes and was jumping up and down in her place while nodding her head, not being able to stand still for all her excitement. Grace couldn't help but chuckle at how her daughter's friend behaved, before she turned to look at Brock.
"I'll just give Augustine a call later tonight and ask if it's okay, as soon as I've gotten word from Shauna's mother that she will allow Shauna to go." she said.
Brock seemed satisfied with that answer, because he turned back towards the open space on the floor and held out the Pokeball, praying to Arceus that third time was the charm and that he wouldn't be interrupted again.
"Alright, here we go!" he said as he released the first one.
The pokeball burst open to release a small, orange fox-like creature with red fluff growing out of its ears. It blinked and looked up at the people standing in the room and gave off a happy "Fenn!" before its eyes settled on Serena, who had taken a step forward. Seeing the new Pokemon, Ash pulled out his pokedex.
"Fennekin, the Fox Pokemon. Fennekin likes to chew on twigs and tend to munch on these as it walks. When they feel threatened, Fennekin will release hot air from its roomy ears."
Ash looked up at the small pokemon as Serena bent down to give it a pat on the head. Behind him, Grace had made sure that Shauna didn't run over and hug the little pokemon by making a point of holding her by one of her pigtails. The brown haired girl pouted, but didn't say anything. Serena was the one who was supposed to pick first after all. The next Pokemon Brock released took the form of a big, light blue toad. Froakie greeted Serena by saying its name one time before Ash turned his pokedex on the new pokemon.
"Froakie, the Bubble Frog Pokemon. Froakie can secrete flexible bubbles from its chest and back, which can then be used to reduce damage done to it when attacked. Despite its happy-go-lucky nature, Froakie is very observant and will always keep a watchful eye on its surroundings."
"A Froakie, huh?" Ash said as he studied the little frog.
Brock just nodded his head and grabbed the last pokeball. By now, Shauna could barely contain her excitement, but she was kept at bay by Grace's grip on her pigtail. Serena leaned over to pat Froakie the same way she had patted Fennekin. Shauna was right, Froakie was also really cute! When Brock released the last pokemon, which looked like a cross between an otter and a mole with a green beret on its head, Ash already had his pokedex at the ready.
"Chespin, the Spiky Nut Pokemon. The quills on Chespin's head can be hardened enough to pierce straight through a rock. The shell on its head and back is so strong that even a direct hit from a truck won't faze it."
Hearing about Chespin's capabilities, Ash's eyes shone with childish amazement, not all too different from Shauna's.
"Wow! That is awesome!" he said, almost looking tempted to catch the pokemon then and there.
"Ash, you're not the one who is supposed to get a new pokemon here. It's Serena!" Brock reminded his friend.
Ash grunted, but backed away, slightly red in the face from his outburst. His blush didn't exactly receed by Serena's soft giggle at his antics. With all the pokemon out for show, Serena gave Chespin a pat on the head, careful to avoid the spikes and stood up to study them all. They all looked really cute.
"So, which one are you going to pick?" her mother asked her with a smile.
Serena looked at them all for a moment longer, before she smiled and walked up and bent down in front of Fennekin. The litte Fire-type looked up at her with big eyes, as if it had a hard time believing that she would actually pick it over the other two. Serena just smiled as she reached down to scratch the Fox Pokemon between its ears, causing it to purr, almost like a cat.
"I decided beforehand that I wanted Fennekin, so that's what I will go with." she said. "Would you like to join me on my journey, Fennekin?" she asked sweetly.
The little fire type gave a happy "Groaf!" as an answer and jumped up to hug its new trainer. Serena laughed and caught it in her arms. Ash smiled at the scene and Grace almost had a tear in her eye again. This was something Serena actually wanted, not something that had been forced upon her. As a mother who had made too many mistakes to count, she felt an undescribable happiness at seeing her daughter smile and laugh like that again. She hadn't done that for 7 years.
A/N: So there we go, a new chapter is finally up and done with! Once again, I want to really apologize for the time it took me to get this up, but some of it was really out of my control. I will try to get updates out faster, but I still got stuff that needs taking care of. Not to mention that my girlfriend will most likely have my head if I ignore her for too long periods of time... (*shudders*)
Oh, and for those of you who read the original and wonders "Where the hell is that Team Rocket scene?!", don't worry. They will still show up in Vaniville Town, but I will alter the encounter. I feel like that is probably one of the worst written part in the original Serene Phoenix and I really want to do a better job at it. Not to mention I have to practically change it completely since Ash doesn't have Charizard on his team anymore.
Speaking of which, someone mentioned that Charizard was lame during the struggle against Garchomp. No sh*t Sherlock, what tipped you off? XD While Charizard is undoubtly one of Ash's strongest Pokemon to date, that doesn't mean he doesn't have any weaknesses or superiors. One of Charizard's main abilities is his ability to fly. Take that away and suddenly, he isn't as graceful anymore. It's the same with birds in real life. Injure one of their wings and they're in deep doo doo. And if you've ever taken a hit to a joint in any of your limbs, you would know that it's not something to take lightly. My own left leg was damage to the point I couldn't walk for 2 weeks because I took a mistimed tackle to the joint during a football game. Believe me, it hurts.
Well, I think that was all. Oh, and I want to remind you that I have gotten myself a Twitter so you guys will be able to keep better track on my progress and how fast we're progressing with all my stories. I will update it regularly, hopefully around once every day or at least every two days. The link will be in my profile so you can find it even if you don't have a a twitter yourself. With that being said, I wish you all a good day and hope that you enjoyed the chapter! This is Freddy Oakster, signing out!