Hey guys new chapter, hope you enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon

Internal Clashes

After what Viola called an inspiring effort from Ash, she happily rewarded him with the Bug badge. Ash happily accepted the badge as he took his first step on the road to the Pokemon League.

Ash and the gang said their goodbyes to Viola and left the gym to continue on to their next destination.

"The Bug Badge huh?" Started the recent victor of the Bug badge as he led the way.

"Seems like a really simple name for a gym badge" began May as she put her hands behind her head, "at least they try to be a bit creative most of the time."

"The name of the badge doesn't matter" responded Ash, "all that matters is that my Pokemon and I earned it."

Ash then turned around to face the group, "well actually saying that is not entirely true, all of you were a great help. I couldn't have won without you guys."

Clemont played with his glasses a bit, "well we didn't really do much Ash, be careful not to give us too much credit."

Ash shook his head in response, "I'm serious, you guys were all a great help, especially you, Serena."

Serena was walking with her head down, obviously in thought when she suddenly stopped and looked up at Ash's words.

"What do you mean Ash?" She asked sincerely.

"There is no way I would've won, if you hadn't said what you said. When I gave up your words pulled me through."

"Really?" Responded Serena with a blank look.

"Yeah" replied Ash. "Actually, I wanted to ask what do you plan to do now?"

"Well" Serena began unsure, "I haven't actually thought that far."

Ash's right cheek suddenly became itchy to him for some reason before he continued, "Well, why don't you come with us."

Serena blinked a couple of times before Ash continued,

"I was just thinking" Ash opened up his arms in a welcoming gesture, "we could help each other out. What do you say?"

Serena processed the invitation for a second.

"What do you think Clemont?" Ash asked.

"Of course not, Bonnie and I would love it if Serena joined."

"That's right" began the energetic blonde girl as she ran up to Serena, "come with us, we'll have so much fun" she continued as she took hold of her hand.

"Definitely, isn't that right May?"

"What!" May was quickly snapped out of deep thought, "I mean yeah of course."

The dream May had last night quickly flashed through her thoughts, "He didn't ask me to join him on his journey when we first met."

Serena felt her heart beat just a bit faster which caused her to put her hand over her chest. She felt a wave of happiness wash over her which caused a big smile to appear in her face, "Of course" ; ) "how could I say no to all of that."

"That's great!" Ash then turned on his heel, "let's get going then."

"Where are headed then" mentioned Clemont, to which Ash stopped mid step,

"Oh yeah" he gave a small chuckle, "that could help."

"Well, if I remember correctly, the closes gym from here is the Cyllage gym."

"I can help with that" Serena took out a pink device from her skirt pocket while the group gathered around.

"To get to Cyllage city, we need to go through Lumiose City first."

Paul had a handbook in front of him while he took the route back to Lumoise.

"Lumoise, hm? If I find out that jumpsuit wearing lemon has something to do with that screwed up gym, he's going to need to invent himself a new pair of legs."

"Gahhh!" Clemont bellowed as he felt a sudden chill go through his spine.

"Clemont, you okay?" Ash asked worried about his friend.

"Yes" Clemont took a deep breath, "must be something I ate" Clemont responded with a disturbed expression, "so how about we get going."

"Great!" Serena excitedly took the lead, "There's a boutique there with the cutest clothes and a bakery with best pastries you've ever tasted."

Bonnie began to drool before she ordered, "What are we wainting for, let's go!"

With that, Serena took off, with Bonnie and Ash in tow, and Clemont lagging behind. May though couldn't move a muscle as she looked on worried as they all raced off.

Paul suddenly heard footsteps coming towards him. Serena then passed right by him, causing his nose to twitch.

Ash, Bonnie, and Clemont soon followed.

"Looks like she decided to join, how sweet."

Paul then rubbed his nose with his index finger,

"But seriously, how can anybody possibly smell that sweet, terrible."

Soon, Serena and company slowed down and settled on a more leisurely pace.

"I wonder how I should prepare for the Cyllage gym?" Ash asked no one in particular.

"Well, maybe you can start by catching some new Kalos Pokemon" replied Clemont.

"You're right" Ash then stopped walking and began to look off the route for anything that moved.

"Serena, I was wondering" began Clemont turning to the honey blonde girl, "why did you decide to go on a Pokemon journey."

"Well" Serena took out a small, blue folded up handkerchief with a pokeball design on the corner and walked up to Ash, "actually I wanted to return this to you."

Serena handed it to Ash who looked at it blankly for a moment, "a handkerchief?"

"Yup, you gave that to me at Proffesor's Oak summer camp."

"Professor Oak's Summer camp? I remember that."

"Me too, I went there as well, remember? You helped me in the forest."

Ash looked towards the sky as if his memories would fall from the sky. He then looked into Serena's blue eyes.

"I remember! You're the straw hat girl. I can't believe it's you."

Serena's cheeks turned red as a sweet smile crossed her face.

"So you came all this way just to return this handkerchief to me."

"Well, there's that and also," Serena began as she took a couple of around Ash with her hands behind her back, "when I saw on the news after the Garchomp incident in Lumiose, I just really wanted to see you again."

"Give me second" Ash began as he looked at the blue handkerchief again, "it's a little foggy but I feel like I remember it."

In the middle of a lush green forest, a small honey blonde girl walked aimlessly.

"Hello?" She began softly, "where did everybody go?"

The sudden rustle of a nearby bush caused her to jump and trip, hurting her leg in the process.

The rustling that had made her jump became louder. Her face became scrunched up in fear. Tears began to form in the corners of her eyes.

A Poliwag leaped out from the bush, making the girl gasp.

Poliwag looked at the blue eyed girl before skipping away without a second thought.

"I knew I didn't want to come here." Tears began to fall without end from the young girls blue orbs.

"Mama!"

Between her sobs she heard the bush rustle once again. More tears followed.

Serena didn't expect to see what came out of the bushes.

A young raven haired boy appeared, "Poliwag? Where did you go?"

The boy then then noticed a young girl on the floor next to a tree. She was wearing a pink blouse and a straw hat.

"Hey are you alright?"

Serena replied with a sound between a surprise and a sob.

"Hi my name is Ash, who are you?"

Serena only replied with a sound of pain. The tears were now falling more slowly now.

"What's wrong?"

"My leg."

Ash walked up to her and took a look at her leg.

"Don't worry" Ash took a knee near her and took out a blue handkerchief from his pants pocket which was folded up to his knees, "see this, it'll make it all better."

Ash continued to tie up her knee with the handkerchief.

"All done."

Serena tried to move but quickly gave up with a grunt.

"Now watch this" Ash continued cheerfully.

He then began to wave his hands around her knee, "Feel better, feel better right away."

Serena gave a blank look. Even though she thought the chant was a bit ridiculous she couldn't help but start to feel better as he continue to try and help her.

"Are you serious" a harsh sounding voice suddenly ringed in the ears of both Ash and Serena.

"Have you always been a moron?"

Ash and Serena turned to see a purple haired boy around the same age as them.

"And you, I've seen baby's not cry for things less grave then your little knee."

Ash and Serena both looked surprised at the purple haired boy who had come from out of nowhere.

"Wait a minute" Ash came back to the present, "Paul wasn't there!"

"Hey! What are doing in my flashback!?" Ash turned to his left, and sure enough Paul was standing there looking disinterested.

"I was bored and I saw a flashback happening so I decided to join in. But like everything else that involves you it was stupid."

Paul went his own way once again.

"Liar! You can't see a flashback, that's impossible!"

"Brother, is Paul a wizard?" Bonnie asked surprisingly sincere.

Clemont's glasses fogged up considerably and he sweat dropped, "For some reason, I can't say no with 100% certainty."

Serena meanwhile could only stare in confusion; she still had no idea who Paul was.

"Sorry about that Serena, he gets on my nerves a lot, unfortunately" Ash apologized.

Serena shook her head slowly, "that's okay, I guess I can see why."

"Now" he continued while scratching his head, "where was I."

Serena tried to get up once more, but she ended with a grunt of defeat once more, "It's useless, I can't stand up."

Ash then stood up and stretched his hand out towards Serena, "Don't give up till it's over, okay."

Serena's eyes lit up as she looked at Ash who had a slight glow to him due to the light seeping through the tree's.

Serena looked at his hand and she unsurely reached for it but stopped.

Ash though would have none of that as he met her 3 quarters of the way and took hold of her hand and pulled her up.

Ash's sudden tug pulled her right up into his chest and into some sort of a hug.

Serena reacted with a surprised look. She then pulled back a bit and looked at him and more specifically into those auburn eyes.

"See, you stood" Ash said with a big grin.

"Come on, let's get back to the camp, they're probably looking for us."

While still holding her hand Ash began to lead them out of the forest.

A slight blush appeared on Serena's face as she looked straight ahead, and she began to feel something she had never felt before.

Suddenly they stopped. It took a second for Serena to notice why they had stopped. She then saw a girl around her age with Saphirre eyes in front of them.

"Uh" was all Ash could utter before the sapphire eyed got up into his grill

"What Ash, you don't want me here either, is that it."

"Ouch! My foot" Ash reached for his which May stomped onto before walking away in the same direction as Paul.

"May! Wait!" Ash quickly ran too May and the others soon followed, worried about May's sudden outburst.

"Hey, what was that about May."

"Nothing!"

Ash took offense to May raising her voice for apparently no reason.

"Nothing! You stomping on my foot isn't nothing!" Ash's voice raised to meet her volume as well.

"Fine then, if you really want to know I'll tell you!" May's voice began to rise as well and her eyes showed some kind of pain. Even Paul was forced to pay attention to the two, he soon stepped into the picture again.

May decided that she was going to shout at the top of her lungs what she felt at the moment.

She opened her mouth, but the ground began to tremble, causing everybody to lose balance and worry about staying on their feet.

"Earthquake!?" Clemont mentioned trying to figure out what was going on.

"No, that's not an earthquake." Serena beganas a dust cloud began to form down the dirt road.

"Rhyhorn! Everybody get away from the middle of the road!"

Nobody hesitated to follow Serena's instructions. May jumped to one side of the road while Serena jumped to the other and Clemont grabbed his sister and pulled her to safety.

But Ash and Paul for some reason were still in the middle of the road!

"Guys, what are doing!" Serena shouted

"Moron, you ran in my way!"

"You ran in my way!"

"Guys!" The group shouted in unison

This caught their attention, but it was too late for that. They were met by a barreling wall of Rhyhorn.

"I hate you."

"The feeling is mutual."

"I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm dead" was all Ash could say as his eyes were tightly shut and he held on for dear life.

After feeling that he was moving at high speeds and convinced himself he was not in fact dead, he opened his eyes.

By some miracle he had somehow made on top of one of the Rhyhorns, unscathed. He was holding onto one of the riders who felt him move and glanced back at him.

"Hiyah" began Ash nervously, "how you doing? Who's winning?"

"Wait, did Paul make it?"

"Of course I did dumbass!"

Ash heard Paul over the stampeding Rhyhorn and found him on one of the other Rhyhorn.

"Dammit"

"I'm not crazy about seeing you alive either."

It took longer than either wanted, but the Rhyhorn race finally ended. Ash and Paul quickly got off, gave a quick thanks to the riders, and proceeded to try and kill each other again.

Luckily, the rest of the gang was there already and together they pushed the brothers away from the crowd.

"Come on Ash and Paul" Began Clemont, "at least don't try to kill each other in public."

The group made it to the Pokemon Center with Ash and Paul in one piece.

They separated both of them, waiting for them to calm down.

Ash took a seat in the pokemon center waiting room and put his head back,

"I feel so frustrated all of the sudden. It shouldn't be like this, I just won my first badge, I shouldn't feel stressed out all of the sudden."

Serena took a seat next to Ash and looked at him with a worried expression.

"Ash, are you alright."

"Huh?" Ash snapped out of his thoughts, "Um, yeah, don't worry about it."

An awkward silence followed while Ash looked towards the floor and Serena looked down at her hands.

"Serena" Ash began trying to break the silence, "how did you know those were Rhyhorn racers coming at us."

"Oh that" Serena looked at Ash again, not sure how she wanted to answer,

"Well actually I know a little bit about riding and Rhyhorn races."

"Really?"

Serena gave him a small nod, "I guess I'm somewhat familiar with Rhyhorn."

"That's so cool, I would love to enter a Rhyhorn race."

Suddenly an idea hit Ash, a way to get his mind off what just happened,

"Serena, you think you could teach me how to ride Rhyhorn?"

Serena was caught off guard, "Are you serious?"

Ash nodded quickly to which Serena replied by tilting her head and looking away from him,

"I-I don't know."

"Please, please, please…" Ash pleaded.

Serena was taken aback by Ash's persistence.

"Alright then, I guess."

"What am I doing!? I'm going to make a fool out of myself."

"Here they are, picking anyone you would like to race with."

"Really!? I can pick the one I want to race with?"

"Sure" replied the woman in charge of the Rhyhorn.

Ash took a quick hard look from behind the wooden fence at the Rhyhorn in front of him.

"Each one of them is so cute!" Exclaimed Bonnie.

Ash then took a decisive choice and went up to one at his right. Serena quickly stopped him and explained that one should approach a Rhyhorn slowly and from the front, which she soon demonstrated with ease to everyone's surprise.

"This one is gentle and really smart" she said while adding a giggle at the end.

"I wouldn't say that."

A harsh and familiar voice carried by the wing fell on the group and the atmosphere became noticeably heavier in an instance.

"What do you mean?" Serena replied defensively while she turned to face Paul.

Paul took out his Pokedex and scanned Rhyhorn.

"Rhyhorn, the Spikes Pokemon. Once it starts running, it doesn't stop. Its tiny brain makes it so stupid that it can't remember why it started running in the first place."

Paul jumped the fence and made an aggressive stance towards Rhyhorn and stared into its eyes, "Isn't that right."

Rhyhorn growled as a warning and stood its ground for a couple of seconds before taking a couple of tentative steps back.

"He can stare down a Rhyhorn? What aura does he have that lets him do that?" Clemont asked himself in shock.

Serena quickly stood up and confronted Paul, clearly irritated.

"Didn't anybody tell you that if you don't have anything good to say, to shut your mouth?"

"Please, what a naïve thing to think" Paul turned and began to head for the fence again, "if everybody just said nice things to each other, nothing would get done."

Paul jumped the fence and began to leave, he then suddenly stopped and turned his head a bit, "don't you think this is a waste of time?" His question was clearly directed at Ash.

Everybody turned to Ash,

"Spending time with Pokemon, with my friends, anything I do on my journey, none of it is a waste of time" Ash said with a level of seriousness that matched Paul's.

"I see" and with that he walked off.

Paul walked with no real purpose after leaving the Rhyhorn rasing area.

"There's no point in traveling farther today" Paul removed the bandages from his fingers, feeling like he no longer needed them, "because of all that nonsense, it's too late to go farther, I'll barely make it out of the vicinity of the Pokemon Center by sunset."

Paul walked down a narrow dirt path going a bit deeper into the forest, "Maybe I'll find a useful Pokemon."

Paul then suddenly stopped and looked down while grinding his teeth, "why is he so annoying, why does he say such stupid things, and why do I care!"

A loud Pokemon cry then filled Paul's ears, causing him to look around for the source of the cry.

He followed where he believed he heard it come from.

His ears led him to a small clearing where he found a cage filled with a number of different Pokemon. One of them caught his eye, it was a Cubone and at some point their eyes met.

Paul looked at the cage for a moment before a pair wearing a black uniform with a big 'R' on their chest stepped in front of the cage.

"Can we help you?" Said a woman with land gold hair and purple eyes.

"Are those your Pokemon?" Paul said innocently.

"Of course" began the man that stood next, "now run off and play kid, we have some business we need to do."

"Aren't you even going to tell me your name?" Paul asked, seeming curious enough.

"It's Butch and Cassidy" replied the man with green hair and brown eyes, "now beat it."

Paul hid his eyes behind his hair before responding, "I usually don't interfere with others business-it's sort of a pet peeve of mine- but for some reason I think I'll need to this time."

Butch and Cassidy stood with their arms folded and smirking, "are you sure you want to do that."

A sly grin appeared on his face as Paul reached for one of his Pokeballs, "actually, I just need to release some stress, and I think I found a punching bag."

"Wow Serena, I'm impressed how you handle Rhyhorn so easily." Clemont said clearly impressed.

"Well, my mom was a top Rhyhorn racer, so she made sure I knew how to handle them since a young age" she explained with a crimson red tint on her cheeks.

"So is that what you want to be Serena, a Rhyhorn racer?"

"Well, Rhyhorn racing is fine and all, but I think there's something elseout there for me.

"Well, you know what I think" Ash

"Huh?"

"You'll definitely find what you're looking for."

"I'm all set!" Serena came from the back of the Pokemon Center wearing/modeling a pink Rhyhorn racing suit.

"Wow Serena, you look great."

"It suits you."

"Ah, thanks." She then pointed to a couple of hearts on her hip, "I sewed this patched on just for fun."

"Ash, look" she began with a slight blush, but Ash was busy admiring himself,

"Awesome, looking good."

"They call it Rhyhorn race fashion."

Ash gave a silly grin, "how do I look."

"Awesome" replied Bonnie.

"All right let's get started" Serena began as she led Ash to Rhyhorn.

And with that, the lessons began. It began with little success as Ash struggled to even get on the Rhyhorn. Serena decided to show him and it began well but led to her being thrown off (not a rare occurrence for her) and in the middle of the Rhyhorn, which began to surround her.

"Serena!" Everybody called out worriedly, but that worry faded away as Serena began to giggle,

"Stop that Rhyhorn" She said playfully, "that tickles."

The Rhyhorn all turned out to all be gentle and playful and as Serena played with them she started to feel calmer.

"I want to play with them too" Bonnie ran right into the pile, and having a great time playing with the Rhyhorn.

The day continued to wear into late evening. The sky began to show a tint of orange, signaling the sunset and the day reaching its end.

As the sun set behing him, Ash, and his shadow struggled with Rhyhorn as the Spikes Pokemon bucked constantly, trying to get the raven haired trainer off.

Serena saw this and quickly called out to him, "close your mouth or you'll bit your tongue! Be one with Rhyhorn!"

At some point, Rhyhorn calmed down enough so that Ash could successfully control it.

"Hey look at that."

"Alright Ash!" Bonnie exclaimed.

"Looks like you'll be ready for the race tomorrow Ash" Clemont stated with a smile.

Serena looked at Ash and she was brought back to the times she practiced Rhyhorn racing with her mom,

"I guess I was wrong about Rhyhorn racing, maybe if I would have tried harder I would have been better. I guess it is part of me. When I was wronger I was scared of the smallest pokemon, but learning about Rhyhorn, I grew because of that."

As a breeze flew by her she looked on in realization, "I'm glad mom taught me how to race Rhyhorn."

"If I try as hard as Ash, maybe one day I'll find what I want to do, one day."

Butch and Cassidy stood in disbelief. There Pokemon quickly disposed of.

In front of them laid their fallen Pokemon, a Primeape, Raticate, Hondour, Htimontop, Sableye, and a Mightyena.

"Get your Pokemon and leave before I blow you in to bits" Paul said with Torterra backing him up, "I'm feeling… merciful today."

Butch and Cassidy returned their Pokemon clearly pissed and they began to walk back away.

"Merciful, hmph, who am I kidding."

"Torterra, Hyper Beam" he ordered quickly.

"That brat!" was they could say before they were sent flying into the sky never to be seen again, probably.

"Morons"

Paul walked up to the cage holding the various Pokemon,

"Crunch"

Torterra quickly obliged and broke the cage open with a strong crunch attack.

Pokemon cheered happily and began to jump around,

"Now, get out of here, and don't be stupid and get caught again."

The Pokemon quickly left the scene. Paul turned to leave but noticed the same Cubone he met eyes with before.

Paul disregarded it though and left for the Pokemon center while Cubone just continued to stare at him with shimmering eyes as Paul left.

Ash entered the room that the group was going to stay for the night. May was sitting at the desk when she glanced back at him.

"Have fun?" The way she said that made the tempature drop in the room.

"Yeah" he said matter of fact, "why didn't you want to join us."

"Didn't feel like it."

"May" Ash said softly, "tell me what's wrong."

Ash put his hand on her shoulder which she quickly reacted by turning away,

"Nothing, everything is fine."

Ash's face became stiff for moment before he relax and sighed.

"We're going to eat soon so come down alright?"

May responded with silence to which Ash decided to just leave.

May picked up a mirror and looked at herself,

"What am I doing? I'm just making it worse."

The next morning was as beautiful as the last, and while Ash was and the groups were at the Rhyhorn racing track, Paul was going on ahead.

The race track followed the same direction Paul was going so it wouldn't be a surprise if he saw the Rhyhorn racers.

What would be a surprise would be if he found a balloon basket.

"Random balloon basket in a random forest? Seems about right."

Paul neared the basket and peered inside.

He found a bunch of junk that confirmed his suspicions, this was the team rocket's balloon he heard so much about from Ash.

"Looks like that trio is nearby." He thought.

Paul scanned the basket and he found a brown sack filled with some different goods that interested him,

"I wonder what society thinks about stealing from thieves."

Paul decided he didn't give a damn and slung the brown sack over his shoulder and continued on his way.

As he went farther he heard a loud crash, which caught his attention.

Following the sound he made it out of the tress and too a dirt road where he found Ash and the group battling team rocket. The Rhyhorn were trapped in cages as well as Pikachu. After a struggle between team rocket and Celmont and Serena, the group fought off team rocket and sent them flying.

Paul watched as everything was sorted out and the Pokemon were freed. Paul was about to leave as well, but something shiny in the road caught his eye. He went on the road and found that the item was familiar looking. He took out his handbook and sure enough he was right.

"Lumiouse city gym badge? How did this get here." Paul became absorbed in thought for a few moments before stuffing the gym badge and returning to the Pokemon center he stayed in last night.

Serena came running down the steps of the Pokemon Center,

"I'm coming with you guys, isn't that great."

"Of course we're going to have a great time."

Serena gave a small smile as she walked up to Ash,

"Hey, Ash I wanted to give these to you." Serena handed Ash a bag of cookies.

"Huh?" Ash took they bag of cookies, looking a bit confuse.

"Just to reward for all your hard work, and thank you for before."

Ash began to devour the cookies, much to Serena's dismay, but she quickly forgot about it and smiled at his gluttony.

"Ash, don't eat all of them, share!" Cried Bonnie.

"Be careful Ash, you're going to choke on one of them." On cue Ash began to pound his chest as one of the cookies got caught.

"Don't worry Bonnie, I made some for everybody."

"Yay!"

Serena passed out the cookies to everybody.

"Here May." She said with a smile.

A smile appeared on May, "thanks Serena", she then looked at Ash and smiled at his attitude,

"Still always the same, no matter what" she began inwardly, "I definitely can't leave things like this."

The group began to make head way to Lumiouse when they saw Paul come towards them.

"Paul?" Began Ash swallowing a cookie, "I thought you'd be near Lumiouse by now."

Paul gave the group a rough smile, "what, can't I be with my favorite guys."

"Uh" was all anybody was able to say to that.

Paul then suddenly became serious and shot a quick glance at Clemont which sent chills down his spine,

"What are we waiting for, let's go."

Everybody gave each other confused glances, before continuing on their way, with Paul in the lead.

"Wait, Paul what's with the sack?"

"Oh, this" Paul took the sack off his shoulder and opened it up while everybody gathered around.

"Let's see…" Paul began to reach and look into the sack,

"Trap" Paul began to flip things from the bag.

"Hey watch it!" an electric trap nearly hit Ash as he hopped out of the way.

"Trap…"

"Watch where you-"

"Trap"

An electric trap landed right in front of Ash and in an instant he became trapped in a net.

"Hey! Get me out of here!"

"Here we go" Paul began to pull other goods from the bag.

"Here's something for you" Paul handed a Smoochum doll to Serena,

"Here's, whatever this is, for you" Paul handed Clemont some sort of team rocket electronic device which Clemont instantly began to tinker with.

"Here's something for you" Paul gave Bonnie Jame's bottle cap collection.

"And this is for you" Paul handed May a very pretty rose.

"Greaaaat, I definitely don't have a million of these."

"Let me guess" Ash said while he tapped the ground still stuck in the net, "the traps were for me."

"What do you think genius."

Paul then pulled one more thing from the bag, a high tech pair of binoculars,

"This could come in handy" Paul began to lead the way again while pointing ahead, "let's go, were burning daylight."

Hope you guys enjoyed, make sure to review and remember they are greatly appreciated. Seriously authors love good reviews, negative or positive.