Chapter 9: "Childhood Sweetheart"

Disclaimer: "I do not own Pokemon"

"Ash please help me"

She knew that it won't do her any good. There was no chance that anyone could hear her let alone Ash. Her heart started to pace up to a limit that can be considered pseudo fatal. She closed her eyes to try and calm herself down but her attempt turned out to futile. The shrieks seemed to get louder with every passing moment. And then it came, a huge sound of thud, startling the young blonde trainer. She couldn't help but open her eyes to see what the source of the sound would be, but when she did, she totally regretted it.

She gazed forward to see two massive legs and that was all she could see. She gulped and ascended her gaze to try and get a full view of what seemed to be a monster. Her terror kept on hiking with the revelation of the every single inch of the figure in front of her. She gasped to figure what she was staring at, it was an Ursaring and by the looks of it, it didn't seem to be too happy about Serena being there.

The bear pokemon growled at her and she flinched due to the sudden eruption. He shrieked yet again before hauling his left arm back his ears and preparing to deliver a blow. Serena had lost all her wits to the point and she felt like she could pass out any second. She just watched the massive arm shining brightly in the dark forest without making any effort to try and avoid the hit. She had given up and all she could do now was to wait and see what the fate had in store for her.

The massive bear Pokémon shrieked before thrusting his fist towards Serena who had closed her eyes to try and buckle herself up for the pain that was sure to follow up. It seemed like everything was happening in slow motion and those few moments felt like hours but they seemed to be too much. According to her she should've been hit by now but that never happen. She gradually opened her eyes and couldn't believe what she saw. Someone was standing between her and the massive Pokémon. She figured out that it was a boy. She tried to get a better view of her savior but couldn't as it was too dark for a clear vision.

She tried to bring herself back to senses as the boy approached towards the menacing beast. She tried to stop him but couldn't find her voice. She watched in horror as the boy extended his hand towards it who growled to try and warn him but his shriek fell into deaf ears as the boy continued his action.

Serena clasped her hands together to pray to Arceus for the safety of the boy. She didn't want someone to get hurt because of her, of course. But what happened next forced her jaw to drop. She watched with wide eyes as her savior placed his hand on the Pokémon's belly and to her utter surprise it actually seemed to be calming down instantly. The boy stared the bear Pokémon right into his eyes who did the same thing but with every passing moment she could feel like it's glare was softening and then it finally nodded in an understanding way. Serena however couldn't dig what she had witnessed. One second ago that Ursaring was attacking her like crazy and the other second it was nodding to someone which she supposed wasn't its trainer.

The next moment, it turned to leave towards the center of the forest to which she sighed in relief. The moment she calmed herself down, she discovered that her savior was making his way towards her. She tried to stand on her feet to thank him for saving her but couldn't as she had twisted her ankle. He reached to the ground and it looked like he was picking something up and then she realized, that it was her Pokeball. He made his way towards her and stooped in front of her while extending the arm which contained her Pokeball.

"There, I believe that it belongs to you." He said in what she felt like the sweetest way but the moment she heard the sound her heart skipped a beat. She realized who the person was and by the name of Arceus she couldn't believe her luck. It was him. It was really him. Ash had really come to save her. She could feel the heat rising in her body as he handed her the pokeball but didn't say a word. Actually she wanted to. She wanted to hug him with all her life, she wanted him to comfort her after all but she didn't know why but she wasn't able to find the words. Ash frowned when he got no response from the girl which made him wonder if she was hurt or anything.

"Are you alright?" he asked her but she didn't say a thing which further worried him. He assumed that she was scared off her wits, so he tried to lighten the environment.

"You're not hurt are you?" he asked her again while placing his hand on her shoulder which spanked her out her trance. She now assessed her surroundings and realized that she had got her Pokeball back. She released the fox Pokémon who yawned before turning to look at her trainer who picked her up and embraced while sobbing a little. The fox Pokémon was surprised yes, but didn't take another second to realize that she needed her and thus nuzzled her face to her chest.

Ash couldn't help but smile to see the scene ahead of him. It was always touching whenever he found that kind of bond between a trainer and their Pokémon. He crossed his arms and waited for the latter to calm down. After about a minute, she ceased the sobbing and was now trying to find her rhythm. She then looked at Ash who was watching her with a warm smile. But soon she realized what the situation was. She knew Ash was really strong and she never wanted to see her acting so weak. Not at their first encounter.

"T thank you so much" she answered for the first time, though quite nervously.

Ash didn't say anything, instead he just nodded contently. He was about to ask her something when she tried to stand and winced in pain which he noticed.

"Hey what happened?" he asked while making his way to help her.

She instantly dropped to her previous position off the sudden impulse of pain.

"I think I twisted my ankle" she informed while trying to stand up again but yet failed again. She knew she won't be able to stand just like that but still she had to do it. She didn't want him to think that she was weak.

"Wait, let me see it." He took a seat next to her and started to take her shoe off. Though she resisted, saying that she was alright but to Ash, it was totally obvious that she wasn't. Ultimately, she gave in and Ash got a good look of her injury. It wasn't too severe but it was clear that she wouldn't be able to walk on her own.

"Can you walk?"

She hated to accept it but she gave in and admitted that she won't be able to do so. Ash knew he couldn't just leave her like that. She didn't seem to be the kind of person who would be fine all by herself at a place like that. He knew what he had to do and didn't wait for another moment.

Serena blinked a couple of time when Ash turned around, his back facing her and then kneeling down before her. She blushed to realize what he was planning.

"Come on. Hope on" he told her in the sweetest voice. Serena's brain was failing to process anything at this point as she went forward and made herself on his back.

At the moment, she was being the most self-conscious, she had ever been in her entire life. She couldn't comprehend what she was feeling. It all seemed like a mirage. Few minutes ago, she was stranded in a living nightmare, but now she was living the dream of her life. It was almost too good to be true and now she was having a hard time in believing what she was going through.

"Hey, by the way, what's your name?" after a few minutes of silence, he thought it was best if he would open up as maybe that girl was too shaken to do that herself.

She didn't respond for a few more moments. Maybe because her was over flooded by all types of thoughts. Like what's actually going on; was it really happening or she was hallucinating?

She was that close to him that she could feel the warmth radiating from him and then a thought struck her. Her heart was beating way too fast, making it almost obvious that he would notice it. She just prayed that he did not and tried to calm herself down but all her efforts were in total vain.

She hadn't even notice that he had said something until he turned his head around to see if she was alright. Then panic struck her. She didn't want Ash to think that she was rude or anything.

"Uh huh, oh, my name's Serena" she was fumbling with her own words, clearly not in a comfortable position.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Ash" he said with the sweetest accent he could wear with a broad smile.

"Yeah I know that" She whispered in his ear. Though she had said it really low pitched but she made sure that he had noticed her. She wanted him to ask her, how that was. Only then she would be able to tell him about their previous encounter and then maybe, he'd recognize her. But she kept waiting and waiting cause that never happened. All her hope expectations, died at once.

Ash however was flabbergasted to hear that at first, but then shrugged it off assuming that she would have possibly seen him on the news or something. But when he stressed on the name Serena, he realized something.

"You're not the same girl from earlier, are you?" That question came in as a punch. She was too sure that he hadn't notice her but if that was so, then how could he say something like that.

"Yeah that would be me" she admitted, pulling her head closer to his back, as if she wanted to cover her face off the embarrassment.

"But how do you know that? I thought you never noticed me."

"I didn't actually. Sorry. You see when I'm battling, I'm just battling." It was true enough, whenever he was excited about something, nothing could possibly act as a distraction, especially if it's a gym battle.

"Yeah I could see that" she finished with a chuckle which was joined by Ash's more bashful one. For the first time, the environment seemed to lighten. But that didn't remain the same for long.

"What were you doing in a place like this anyways?" He asked in a serious tone. First time in the day actually.

All her comfort and all the confidence, she had gathered with the small conversation was gone, just like that. It was pretty obvious that she couldn't possibly tell him the truth. After all he didn't recognize her. What was she supposed to tell him anyways? That she was upset of him because he didn't recognize or even notice her at all. That she didn't had the confidence to face him after coming all this way, just to see him. She knew that it was crazy, it even sounded real crazy.

Ash realized her uneasiness about the subject so he tried to shift it. "Anyways, are you on a journey?"

"Journey?" she didn't feel too confident about herself anymore and her voice was an evidence to that. She sounded rather emotionless, as if she was in some sort of trance.

"Yeah Journey. You're a Pokémon Trainer right? What's your dream?" he asked it to her because he thought that maybe it could help and loosen her a bit but he was proved wrong when quite the reverse happened. She tensed up even more and it made him wonder about his decision.

"My dream?" she whispered to herself. He was right. What was her dream anyways? She had never given a thought to it. She knew that she was destined to be a Rhyhorn racer according to her mother. But she was quite sure that she wouldn't make a good one as she personally had no interest in it.

Ash took the silence as his answer. He was quite puzzled now. A trainer without any goal in their life. Now he felt bad for the girl. He didn't know why but it felt like something's not right about her.

"It's alright if you're still to figure out though." He told her sweetly before pausing a bit to continue. "It's the thing that we have to dedicate our lives to, so it better be worth the effort don't it?" She just gave an absent minded nod as her response before resting her head on his back. She was too exhausted to think anything though.

After a few minutes of walking, Ash realized that she'd fallen asleep. He didn't know if she had reserved a room or anything and she looked too relaxed for him to dare and wake her up. Having no other choice, he took her to the room he was sharing with the siblings. Unfortunately, it only had two beds. One was occupied by Bonnie and Clemont while the other belonged to him. He laid her down on his own bed silently so that he won't disturb his newly formed companions.

When he had ensured that she was comfortable, he got a first good look of the girl. She was sleeping peacefully and had a small smile curved on her face. She looked so relaxed. He couldn't help but smile to see her like that.

Serena woke up when she felt the first ray of the morning embracing her face. She was nervous to do so but. She didn't know what happened after he had nodded off. She didn't know where she was at the moment. She didn't know how to respond if she would find Ash standing in front of her. She slowly opened her eyes and found nothing. She realized that she was in a bed. She got up and rubbed her eyes to try and rub sleep out of them. She blinked a few moments before realizing that she was in a room indeed. It seemed like a Pokémon Centre. All her energy, all her joy dropped in a moment.

"So it was a dream after all" she whispered to herself before letting out a deep sigh. She thought that she was fool to believe that something like that would happen. She turned her gaze to stare out of the window and kind of zoned out after that.

"You're awake" she jumped in surprise as she heard a sound. To her dismay it belonged to a girl, so it couldn't possibly belong to Ash. But she was curious about the person anyways. She didn't remember meeting any girl and somehow the voice felt familiar. She turned her gaze to find a grinning Bonnie standing next to the bed.

Bonnie didn't wait for her to answer though as she was too stuffed with her usual energy.

"How are you feeling? Ash told us about you. You're not feeling any pain, are you?"

Serena didn't answer any of that though. She had far more important things on her mind at the moment. If Bonnie's here then, it had really happened. I wasn't a dream. He must've brought her here after she'd nodded. She was totally ecstatic. Bonnie looked at the older girl with amusement as she witnessed her expressions changing in a split second.

"Yeah I'm fine." She told her while tilting her head to finish.

"Good, why don't we go for the breakfast? I bet you'd be hungry" the little girl proposed which the older girl happily accepted. She asked her to wait for her at the canteen which she happily obliged. Serena tried to pull herself out of the bed sheet. But then she remembered that she had hurt her leg. Pulled the blanket to see that her leg was bandaged. Her heart skipped a beat when she perveived it was Ash who had probably done that. She couldn't help but smile for his sweetness. She knew that he hadn't recognize her but still he was being so nice to her.

She tried to stand with her eyes closed shut off the expected wave of pain but it never happened. Her leg wasn't hurting a bit. She quickly washed her face to make herself presentable before making her way down to the canteen area.

She was called by Bonnie the moment she had stepped into the hall as she slowly made her way to her. She was currently seated on a table for four beside a boy whom she recognized to be the bubbly girl's elder brother, Clemont. She made her way to the siblings before greeting them good morning and taking a place in front of Bonnie.

Clemont asked Serena what had actually happened the last night while they were waiting for their order to arrive. Bonnie listened to the elder girl with stars twinkling in her eyes.

"You must be really scared." Clemont asked as the latter admitted it.

"I was scared. I was scared to death. I was certain that I was going to die and then…." She trailed the sentence as she heard someone approaching. It was her savior indeed. She watched him nervously as he took his place next to her.

"Ash showed up" Bonnie completed the sentence for her as she stared him down with a small blush on her face. The latter greeted everyone before turning his attention to the Honey Blonde

"He always shows up." She whispered absent minded. She said it low enough to ensure that no one would hear her but to her bad luck, Bonnie seemed to catch it. She just narrowed her gaze before shrugging it off.

"I hope you're feeling better"

"Yeah I am, thanks to you" It was the first time that she was talking to him with someone around them, so she was feeling much more confident unlike when they're alone.

"Hey Serena" Bonnie called the older blonde suddenly causing everyone to turn towards her.

"What is it?" she didn't know why but the little girl had a serious vibe around her for the very first time.

"You said 'He always shows up'" she trailed to see the expression on her face which was worth a watch. Her eyes were like that they're going to jump out of their sockets. It was like someone was caught red handed. Serena turned to see that Ash was now looking at her looking quite curiously. She immediately turned to look at the other girl who was staring her sceptically.

"I thought that you'd just meet the other night" she said while turning her gaze to the raven haired trainer for some sort of explanation but the latter was just as clueless as she, herself was.

Serena was now feeling a strong desire to punch herself in the gut. She wasn't prepared for this at all but by the looks on Ash's face, he seemed just as curious as the younger blonde. She sighed as she realized that she had no way out of this situation. Guess she had to tell him. But she didn't want to do it like that.

"Yeah Bonnie. It wasn't the first time that he had helped me like that." She finished by stealing a glance towards Ash.

"I did? I don't remember doing something like that." Serena sighed again while turning to him to explain things to her childhood hero.

"Yeah you did. But we were too young back then, so it's quite understandable that you don't recall a thing." She looked hopefully towards him but to her discontent, he was still as clueless as ever.

"Tell us the whole thing" Bonnie exclaimed while making her way up the table to lean towards the Honey Blonde. The latter sweat dropped and let out a nervous chuckle but then nodded to approve the idea. She then turned to look Ash straight into his eyes.

"So it went something like this" she paused a bit to try and recall the details of her 'most cherished moments'. "I was in the Pallet town, to attend the Pokémon summer camp organised by Professor Oak. I didn't actually wanted to go but my mom made me. So I was quite mad at her." She had realized that she was being too silly at that time but then again, she was just a little girl back then.

"I was quite an introvert type of girl, so I didn't have many friends." She paused to bit her tongue "Actually I didn't have a single" She took a look of all the listeners and was quite satisfied that they were paying attention.

"One day I was bullied by some kids and I felt so terrible that I made a run from the place. I didn't ever want to go back there. I kept running and running and when I stopped I realized that I was lost"

"I was in the middle of the forest and to tell you the truth, I was scared. I tried to figure my way back to the Camp site. Even though I hated it there, but still I was at least safe. But soon I realized that I was not going to do that ever."

"Just when despair was about to hit me, I heard some rumbling sounds. It was coming from the bush behind me. So off the alarm, I tried to run in the opposite direction, only to trip my leg and falling face first to the ground" she trailed to chuckle a bit but was quickly ordered by Bonnie to continue as she was now finding it hard to control her excitement.

"I turned over to glance at the bushes, from where the sound was coming. The rumbling got louder and louder and then something leapt out of them."

"Poliwag~" it said. Now that I knew that it was a Poliwag, didn't help me feel better. I was scared to death and couldn't hold any longer."

Flashback:

"I knew I didn't want to come to camp. I knew it." There was a brief moment where the only sounds were light sniffs, and then was a loud scream.

"Mommmmyyyyyy!"

"Poliwag?" Ash called out, pushing through the bushes. He could hear a light whimpering sound, the person at the other end nervous about the rustling bushes.

Ash then pushed through the bushes, and looked around. His eyes went to a large tree, where a girl was backed up against it, tears on her face, and eyes shut tight. Ash could tell that she was terrified. She didn't even know that it was him and not a Pokémon in front of her.

"Hey, are you alright?" Ash asked, trying his best to make his voice sound as gentle as possible.

The girl opened her eyes and stared at Ash in surprise. He took a step forward, making sure he was visible so that she could see he wasn't a threatening Pokémon.

"Huh?" was the only response.

"Hi, I'm Ash," he greeted, pointing to himself and smiling. He then tried to get her to speak.

"Who're you?" he asked, suddenly forgetting about Poliwag. When all she did was whimper again, he tried again to make her speak. "What's wrong?" he asked quietly.

Finally, she seemed to understand that it was ok to respond to him. She glanced down to her leg, tears still coming down her cheeks. "I hurt...my leg," she whimpered, staring her leg in fear.

Ash could see now that she had a nasty scrape on her leg, and realized now that it had been this that had caused the loud scream he'd heard earlier. He suddenly felt the urge make this girl more comfortable. He didn't want to see her hurt. He quickly knelt down in front of her.

"Don't worry," he told her, reaching around and pulling a blue handkerchief from his pocket. "See this?" he asked, holding it up in front of her.

"This'll make it better." He gently moved the handkerchief forward and carefully wrapped it around her knee. The only noise she made, was another, "huh?" but she didn't move away. For some reason, that had made Ash feel quite good about himself.

He quickly finished tying the handkerchief into a knot, and then looked hopefully at the girl. "All done," he said happily. She stared at her leg for a moment and then seemed to put weight on it, but quickly gave up, whimpering once more.

Ash wasn't going to give up, though. He was now determined to make sure this girl was okay. "Now watch this," said, holding up his hands close to her knee. He started wiggling them around in some kind of weird performance.

"Feel better, feel better," he started, voice light as he was sure to be cheerful for the upset girl. He then held up his hands in victory and shouted, "Right away!"

She stared at him for a moment, and then tried to put weight on her leg again, before whimpering once more. "It still hurts, I can't stand up," she whined, staring wide eyed as he quickly stood up himself.

Ash again felt the determination to make sure this girl was okay, and he wanted to show her that she should have that determination as well. He held his hand up and smiled.

"Never give up till it's over, 'kay?" He slowly reached out his hand to her, and looked her in the eyes. "Come on!" he encouraged. She stared at him in shock again, and then reached hand to his, as though not even realizing it. When he felt her hand in his, Ash quickly tightened his grip, and then pulled up with all his strength. He accidentally pulled a little hard, and the girl came up so fast, that she fell forward. Ash quickly put his arm around her to make sure she didn't fall again, and felt her clutching onto his shoulder in fear. After a moment, though, she leaned back and stared at him, a blush coming to her cheeks.

"There you go!" Ash said excitedly, giving her a wide grin and chuckling. He realized they were still holding hands, but ignored that and took his arm that had been wrapped around her and pointed back to the direction they had come from. "I think we should be back to the campsite. 'Kay? Come on." He slowly started to walk away, careful to ensure that the girl was following. The whole way back, their hands were held between them.

Serena pulled an old handkerchief from her bag and showed it to the group who was now staring her wide eyed.

"Don't tell me that it's the same handkerchief from that day" Clemont exclaimed quite loudly. Serena giggled to his reaction before nodding in approval.

"Wow that's so cute" Bonnie squealed taking a better look of Serena's treasured piece of cloth. Serena blushed to the compliment and gave her a sweet smile before turning to Ash who was staring at her dumb folded. Serena's heart sank off his reaction. Does that mean that he still hasn't remember yet? She dropped her gaze as sorrow was about to take her over. But then she heard something.

"You're the girl with the Straw hat?" It was Ash. He was now wearing a broad grin and was pointing to her. Serena's eyes widened off the statement. She was so happy that she wanted to leap and crush him in a big hug but she played it smart and controlled her urge.

"Yeah, that's me" she confirmed before stretching the handkerchief towards him.

"Here, it's yours. You see I wanted to give it back to you at the gym itself but I couldn't group the courage to."

"You've come all this way to just return it to me?"

"Not just that" she got up from her place to take a few steps and then turning back to him, "You see, ever since that day I always wanted to see you again" she paused again, "And when I saw you on the News I knew it was you and I knew that I had to find you but I never thought that you wouldn't even remember me" she said while puffing her cheeks to show her disapproval.

"Now I'm feeling bad about not remembering about you in the first place." He bashfully rubbed the back of his neck.

"He must be really important to you if you've taken such a good care of his handkerchief for such a long time." Bonnie nudged the older girl playfully as the latter blushed to the shade of tomato berry. She turned around to see the raven haired trainer who was still staring at the handkerchief with amusement.

The rest of the morning passed rather quickly. Everyone went to the battle field after the breakfast where Ash and Clemont had a mock battle. Serena accompanied Bonnie at the side lines, who was giving her the knowing look every once in a while.

Serena however enjoyed every second of the time she spent with the group, despite Bonnie's constant teasing. But then the reality stuck her. She knew the time to leave was approaching and she had not asked him if she could join them. Actually she knew she couldn't, not after Ash disapproving a gym leader's request to follow him. And she even had a valid reason to follow him, while she just wanted to be with him. She didn't realize but she wasn't gone unnoticed by everyone.

And then the time finally arrived. The time when she had to bid her farewell to Ash. She didn't even know if she was going to see him ever again. Yet she couldn't do anything. She was standing in front of the newly formed group with her head held down.

"I guess this is it" She said while lifting her head to see the others. Bonnie was visually sad and she knew that Clemont was too but what was surprising was the attitude of Ash. He was smiling at her brightly.

"See you soon. Please take care of yourself" Bonnie said as she bid her newly formed friend a good bye. Serena returned her biddings and assured that she would. Clemont did the same and then it was time for her to bid her childhood sweetheart a final good bye. She was about to say when Ash interrupted her.

"Where are you heading now Serena?" he asked quite seriously not smiling anymore. Serena wasn't sure for herself. She had just that she would meet Ash and then accompany him on his journey but clearly it wasn't possible now so she had no idea.

"I don't know Ash" she paused to stare her feet for a moment, "I think I'll just head back home" There was no need to tell that she wanted to join them but he had no idea why in the world she wasn't telling them so.

"If that's the case." He made his way towards her, "Why don't you come with us"

Serena couldn't believe what she had heard. She quickly shot her head up to look at the raven haired trainer in instincts with wide eyes. Ash had actually asked her to join him. What does that supposed to mean? After disapproving a gym leader, he was asking her himself. Does that mean…. She was pulled out of her thoughts the next moment itself.

"We can help you find a dream that you can cherish and maybe work together to fulfil it."

"Yay! Say yes Serena, please." Bonnie squeaked out as she ran to the older girl and grabbed her hand.

"But I thought you were no good around girls. That's what you told Viola" Clemont asked. He didn't know why Ash was doing it. He himself wasn't that comfortable around girls except for Bonnie. Serena was feeling like killing him at the moment. Who was he supposed to be to say something like that?

"It's alright Clemont. After what she'd done, I feel like I owe her a big time." Ash explained his reason to the aspiring scientist. That actually made sense to Clemont and he nodded in approval.

But Serena felt like crying. So this is why he'd asked her to join them. Because he feels like he's in debt of her. She felt like slapping herself for gathering all that false hope. But she would still get to be with him, at least. She knew she had to accept the offer but now she didn't know if she was excited about it at all. She gathered herself up before pulling on a huge smile on her face.

"Sure. How can I say no to all that"

Author's Note: First of all, thanks a lot for your support so far. Thanks for those who have reviewed so far(Getting some guest reviews lately and all of them had asked for Cynthia. So yeah guys I'll do something for you too but it wont be anytime soon). We're almost 100 followers and to tell you guys the truth, the story hasnt even started properly.

Second, I would like to apologise for the rather late upload. The point is I couldnt cause I wasnt well, yet again. (This time the docs says that its quite serious and I laughed on his face xD lol)

Anyways let me know how you felt about my way of the epic reunion. Full of Amour aye? I really hope you guys like it. I want you guys to know that I wont be able to update anytime sooner than 10 days. So till that peace out. Feel free to ask me any questions, I would try my best to answer you. Till next time Peace out :D