Kenji finally gets to have his rematch against Viola and a little bit of a break between matches after the conclusion of it.
as always I hope you enjoy :)
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN POKEMON
Chapter 6: Don't give up til it's over
"Do I remember you?" Ash repeated back to Serena. He couldn't remember off the top of his head encountering a girl named Serena before. Pikachu and Fletchling headed off with the others clearly sensing that their trainer needed a private moment. "Sorry, I don't think I do," Ash said.
"We actually met back at Professor Oak's summer camp about 8 years ago," Serena said, hoping it would jog his memory.
"Oh, I remember that summer camp," Ash said looking off into the distance trying to remember.
"Really you do?!" replied Serena with a hopeful tone. Did he really remember her after all this time.
Ash looked at the towel Serena gave him, then back at her, then a memory came flooding back to him. "Oh, you're the girl with the straw hat!" He had finally recalled the memory of him helping her out in the forest.
Serena turned a little red, overjoyed that Ash had remembered her even from that long ago. "Sorry I didn't mean to distract you from your training."
"No, it's fine," he said getting up and brushing himself off.
"Well, I have to say, I loved watching you battle, you were amazing out there!" she said smiling at him.
"I don't know about that," said Ash getting a sheepish look, "I honestly feel like it didn't go well at all." It had been some time since he had felt a loss like this, it wasn't an unfamiliar feeling, but it wasn't a pleasant one either.
"Well, it's like you told me back then," she paused looking into his brown eyes smiling. "Never give up til it's over, right?" Those words had such a big impact on her growing up, she was hoping to return the favor and snap Ash out of the rut he was in.
Ash gasped and chuckled a bit at hearing his own catch phrase said back at him like this. Of course, he wasn't giving up. It wasn't like him to be all down like this.
"You know Serena, thank you," he said smiling. "Something like this certainly won't stop me," he said proudly. "This was a big help," he said adjusting his hat and handing her back the towel, "it just wouldn't be me if I gave up now."
Serena felt the confidence and determination in his voice making her blush slightly. He was just how she remembered him, except he was a little bit more handsome now. "Yeah, of course," she said happily as they walked over to the group.
"You guys ready to get back to training?" said Ash to Pikachu and Fletchling who nodded in determination.
They began to get back to work, training their ability to handle dealing with a strong gust. They ended up working with Fletchling to keep its balance in the air and pikachu holding itself down while using its tail to keep itself in the ground. After a few rounds of this, the training seemed to be yielding results.
Kenji went off with his pokemon to another training field off to the side of the one Ash was training in. He had all his pokemon out in front of him so they could come together with a game plan. Charmander and Marill seemed to be ready to train, but Scyther however, seemed to scoff at the idea, it felt plenty strong already.
"Scyther, you gotta take this seriously," said Kenji, with the large bug type still sticking its nose in the air at the idea of training.
"You like strong opponents, right?" added Kenji knowing exactly what buttons to push for Scyther. Scyther nodded in agreement.
"Well, the gym leader, Viola, has some really strong pokemon," he started, "they were even able to beat Pikachu." Scyther seemed shocked at this. It held a certain amount of respect for Pikachu, not only because it was a strong fighter, but because Pikachu had nearly beaten it, and this gym leader had pokemon able to take it out? This changed everything, Scyther seemed to have a more determined look than ever and banged its large blades together.
"Yeah, that's the spirit," said Kenji, "now let's get to work."
Kenji started off training Scyther with its ability to dodge attacks, seeing how Surskit's sticky web worked he figured it would be best to be able to dodge that repeatedly. Clemont was actually able to help with this, his Bunellby shot multiple mud shot attacks at the group to work on their dodging.
Kenji then had a callback to the training battle he had with Ash and remembered when he almost tripped in the crater Marill had made while using rollout. That got him thinking if he could replicate that during his gym battle it might be able to slow down Surskit enough to hit it with something.
Kenji and Marill headed over to some spots with more trees and began practicing rollout repeatedly from tree to tree while Scyther and Charmander continued to practice with Clemont and Bunellby. Clemont always got an uneasy feeling when Scyther would glare at him, but Kenji assured him that the large bug meant no harm.
The blue pokemon bounced between the trees like a wild pin ball. They then worked on its aqua tail strengthening it to where Marill could strike the ground making a large crater. At one point, Marill's fist began to glow as it attempted to use superpower, but it failed again when Marill tried to strike a tree, Marill looked a bit disheartened by not being able to fully use this move effectively.
"Cheer up Marill, Kenji said smiling I know you'll get it eventually," Marill replied happily in return.
Kenji also worked with Charmander building up its speed in hopes to help it dodge attacks quicker as well as working on its fire type moves. As they were training, Charmander's ember attacks became larger and hotter becoming a steady stream of fire coming from its mouth, it had learned flamethrower.
"Wow that's great Charmander!" Kenji said praising his partner.
After a few hours they were all ready to call it a day. He took a step back and looked at his crew. They were tired from all the training that day, but they felt even more prepared than ever.
"I think you guys are ready," said Clemont giving him a nod.
"I think so too," said Kenji in agreement, his pokemon did the same.
Kenji, feeling a great sense of accomplishment, decided to head back over to the other field with Ash and the others. He saw that Ash was using Froakie's frubbles as a substitute for sticky web and were having Pikachu and Fletchling dodge it, and it appeared to be working the duo was moving much quicker and with more precision than he had seen earlier.
After a while the group decided to call it a night and they all headed off inside the pokemon center for the night. Later that night after the group had dinner together, Ash and Pikachu were out in the lobby of the pokemon center sitting in a chair, he couldn't sleep. The combination of excitement for a gym battle and nervousness about facing Viola again was too much for his brain to try and go to sleep. Serena happened to come down as well and noticed him.
"Oh, Ash, Pikachu, you're down here too?" she said coming over to him.
"Yeah, I couldn't sleep," he said sitting up smiling.
"Yeah, you and your pokemon did a lot of training today, I never realized how much work it took to be a trainer to get ready for a gym battle," she said sitting across from him.
"Don't worry, you'll be training pokemon and taking on gym leaders like that in no time," he said smiling.
"Well to be honest," Serena started, "I'm not really sure exactly what I want to do on my journey yet," she said nervously. Truthfully, she mainly started her journey just to get out of the house, not really giving any thought as to what she really wanted to do.
"Sure, I get it," said Ash, "you just gotta figure out what you want to do on the way, just take your time and you'll figure it out."
Serena felt better hearing this, she did feel a little guilty leaving on a journey not really knowing what she wanted to do, so hearing this from Ash really put her at ease.
"Do you think you and Kenji will be ready for tomorrow?" she asked.
"Yeah, I think we both got this," said Ash with a determined grin.
"Well, I'm going to try and get some sleep, you probably should too," she said getting up. And Ash," good luck tomorrow, I'll be cheering you on. She said smiling and quickly walked away up to her room.
"Okay thanks," Ash said standing up. That was weird, he thought, was she just going to cheer for him and not Kenji?
Pikachu sighed in disappointment, his trainer could be so clueless sometimes.
The next morning, the group made their way over to the gym and as they entered, they found Alexa and Viola waiting in the lobby for them.
"We figured you guys would want to battle first thing in the morning," Viola said grinning.
"Yeah, you bet," said Ash who didn't look nervous at all.
"So, Ash are you ready?" asked Viola.
"Actually, I'd like to battle first today," said Kenji.
"Yeah, that's fine with me," said Ash. He was eager to see if Kenji's training had paid off, and how he'd match up against Viola.
"Great, that works too, follow me," said Viola smiling leading them to the battlefield.
Kenji took a deep breath right before stepping on to the battlefield. The last time he was here it all went wrong. But not this time, this time he was prepared, and he wasn't going to back down. He exhaled and stepped into the trainer's box with a determined look on his face.
"How many pokemon do you have with you Kenji," asked Viola.
"I have three pokemon with me," he responded.
"That's good to hear," said Viola smiling, "since you're a new trainer without any badges you may use all the pokemon you have brought with you.
Kenji, surprised at this news, nodded in agreement. He didn't know about this rule last time since he only had one pokemon with him at the time it didn't really matter.
"So, this is Kenji's first gym battle?" asked Serena.
"Well, sort of," started Ash. He went on to explain Kenji's situation with what happened on his first visit here, and when Froakie left him.
"Oh, I see," said Serena, I really hope he wins this, he's worked so hard."
"Yeah, he has, it seems he's come a long way since his first battle here," added Clemont.
"Alright Surskit, let's go!" Shouted Viola. Surskit appeared and began to skate around gracefully.
"Go Scyther," Kenji Shouted. Scyther appeared ready for battle, until its eyes fell on its opponent. Scyther was shocked to be facing the little skater pokemon, it looked back at Kenji as if to say, this thing beat Pikachu? It looked as if it would be running for the hills at the sight of a pokemon like Scyther. "Careful Scyther don't underestimate it. Kenji said. Scyther nodded and faced its opponent.
"Battle, begin!" shouted the referee.
"Alright Scyther let's start with agility. Scyther took off and sped around the gym making it hard to track.
"Trying to out speed us won't be easy," said Viola. "Use haze." Surskit produced a thick haze that enveloped the battlefield making it hard to see.
Kenji, gritted his teeth, but an idea soon came to him, "Scyther quick use air slash but don't focus on making a sharp blade make it like a wide fan." Kenji yelled. Scyther did so, it made a big sweeping motion with its blades creating a small gust of wind getting rid of most of the haze revealing the little Surskit below.
"Great Scyther now go in and use night slash." Scyther dove down and faster than you could see, it struck the little Surskit dead center. It spun into the attack absorbing the blow and skating back over to Viola.
"Not bad Kenji, you've clearly been doing some training, but how will you respond to this, use ice beam," shouted Viola.
Surskit shot one after another, but Scyther was able to dodge them thanks to its agility.
"Quick Scyther use double team," Kenji hollered. Scyther then made multiple copies of itself and dove after Surskit. "Now use slash," Kenji added. All the Scyther duplicates went in to strike Surskit.
"Use sweet scent," shouted Viola.
"Uh oh," said Clemont.
"What's wrong?" asked Bonnie
"Sweet scent is a move that makes pokemon easier to hit," explained Clemont.
"Oh no, YOU CAN DO IT SCYTHER!" Cheered Bonnie.
The room filled with a sweet aroma, as soon as it hit Scyther it halted making all the duplicates disappear and got a relaxed look on its face.
"Oh no," said Kenji, "Scyther snap out of it," he yelled but it was no good, Scyther was in pure heaven taking in deep breaths of the sweet aroma.
"Now ice beam!" shouted Viola. Surskit then landed a direct hit sending Scyther back and landing in front of Kenji out cold.
"Wow, that was Kenji's strongest pokemon," said Ash in a worried tone looking over at Viola. Just how strong is Viola he thought.
"Your Scyther is strong indeed Kenji, but we know how to deal with all types of opponents," Viola said confidently.
"Good job Scyther take a rest," Kenji said returning it to its pokeball. Kenji thought hard about what to do next, the only positive thing he had going for him so far was that Viola hadn't turned the battlefield into a sheet of ice... yet. He took a deep breath and sent out Marill, who appeared ready for battle.
"So, a water type huh? let's see if it has what it takes," Viola said grinning.
"Battle resume!" Shouted the ref.
"Marill, use rollout!" Yelled Kenji. Marill tucked itself into a ball shape and shot forward at the Surskit scoring a hit. "Hit it again with rollout," shouted Kenji. Once again Marill shot itself at Surskit hoping to score another hit.
"Use Protect!" shouted Viola. Marill bounced off the protective wall and up into the air.
Marill and surskit traded blows like this for a bit, it seemed as if marill's training had really paid off. There were times where Marill didn't seem all that confident before, but it seemed to have gotten over that after having a few battles under its belt. Eventually what everyone was waiting for happened.
"Now Surskit, use ice beam on the field!" Yelled Viola.
Before Kenji could react, the field was covered in a sheet of ice.
How is Kenji going to deal with this, Ash thought, if he was being honest, he didn't have a clear answer to that question either, he just had to sit and watch.
Kenji seemed to be grinning, as if he had a plan for this exact moment. "Now Marill use aqua tail!" he shouted. Marill, after getting its footing jumped up and went to strike towards Surskit which dodged it skating out of the way. "Keep it up Marill, don't let it get away," Kenji said putting a fist in the air.
"What exactly is Kenji doing?" asked Serena, "Surskit just seems too fast for it."
"I have a feeling I know what he's up to," said Alexa grinning, "watch and see."
The group turned and stared intently at the ongoing battle a little confused, Marill was just going in using aqua tail over and over missing its attacks because Surskit was just too fast skating around on the ice. Then something happened. Surskit tripped and fell.
The group gasped as the cloud of dust settled. There were a bunch of craters in the ice making a bunch of holes where Marill had missed.
"He was never aiming for Surskit!" exclaimed Ash, "he made it seem like he was so Viola wouldn't catch on and stop dodging, but Surskit was never the target, now surskit can't skate around anymore.
"That's exactly right," said Alexa nodding. "Only a few trainers who come and challenge my sister are able to come up with something like that," it's one of the few ways to get passed her ice battlefield."
"Now Marill finish it with slam!" shouted Kenji. Marill jumped up and slammed down onto the helpless Surskit who was unable to escape. Marill hopped off of the crater revealing Surskit unconscious in the hole.
"Surskit is unable to battle!" the ref proclaimed.
"Alright way to go!" the group cheered.
"Yeah, way to go Marill!" Kenji shouted, something finally seemed to be going right for him. Marill turned around and gave a happy cry, then it started to glow white. "Wow, no way," said Kenji. Marill seemed to grow a bit larger and the white pattern on its stomach turned into a bubble-like pattern with its ears became longer, it had evolved into Azumarill.
The group gave out another cheer in excitement upon seeing Kenji's new pokemon. Kenji pointed his pokedex at his newly evolved pokemon.
"Azumarill, the Aqua Rabbit Pokémon. The evolved form of Marill. This Pokémon uses its large, highly developed ears to hear great distances, even underwater." It also listed a few new moves that it had learned upon evolving.
"That's awesome Marill... I mean Azumarill. You still want to battle?" asked Kenji. Azumarill gave an approving nod in return and faced Viola.
"That was quite the performance Kenji," Viola said returning her Surskit. "But you can't lose focus just yet, you still have one more pokemon of mine to beat, go Vivllion!" She shouted. Her Vivllion appeared and flapped its large wings.
Kenji took a deep breath, he hadn't made it this far before. He just knew that he had what it took this time around, and he wasn't going to take anything less than a victory.
"Let's finish this quick Azumarill, use aqua jet!" Kenji shouted.
Azumarill then enveloped itself in water and shot itself like a bullet at the Vivillon who was struck landing on the ground with azumarill still on top of it.
"Quick use play rough!" Kenji shouted quickly, Azumarill then began to slap Vivillon repeatedly.
"Use psychic," Shouted Viola. Azumarill was then lifted off the vivillon and thrown back. If it wasn't for the fact that Vivillon wasn't a psychic type, the attack would've been a lot worse.
"Use Poison powder," Viola said. Vivillon then scattered a bunch of purple spores into the air and flew them over azumarill who was slow getting up.
"Azumarill get out of there!" shouted Kenji, but it was too late. Azumarill began to cough like it was having trouble breathing and getting sick. "Can you still battle?" asked Kenji. Azumarill nodded. "Alright, then use aqua jet and get above Vivillon!" Azumarill shot upward soaring above the bug type, "Now use superpower!" Kenji shouted.
"Woah, he's trying to finish this match right now before the poison can take full effect," said Ash.
"They trained with that move a bit, but I don't think they mastered it yet," said Clemont worried. The group was tense as they watched the match unfold.
Azumarill began to charge its fist looking like the attack was going to be a success.
"Charge in with acrobatics!" yelled Viola. The two pokemon collided midair and each landing opposite of one another. The two pokemon stared each other down, but Azumarill gave a loud cough and fell over exhausted.
"Azumarill is unable to battle!" cried the ref.
Kenji grabbed a pecha berry from his backpack and ran out to Azumarill. "Here eat this it will help make you feel better," he said handing Azumarill the berry. The pokemon weakly chewed up the berry and seemed to relax a little.
"You were awesome out there," Kenji praised with a big smile on his face. "Now take a good rest he said returning Azumarill to its pokeball.
"Wow that was so close," said Serena softly. She was now kind of glad she chose not to participate in the gym challenge, she had no idea how she'd take on someone like this.
"Kenji's got this," Ash said confidently, "he still has Charmander after all."
"Right," said Clemont, "both of them have been working really hard since day one, so they are more than ready for this."
"Last one Kenji," Viola said, "Let's see what you have in store for me."
Kenji looked down at his last pokeball. This was it, all his hard work and training was going into this battle, a few weeks ago this would've sounded impossible to him, but now he was determined to be the best trainer out there. With that he sent out his last pokemon.
"Oh, it's a Charmander," said Viola surprised, "What about Froakie?" She questioned.
"How about this, you beat me, and I'll tell you," Kenji said, not really wanting to get into that issue in the middle of a battle, he had to focus. He called Charmander over to him for a last-minute huddle before they began. Once done, Charmander stepped onto the field ready for action.
"Battle, begin!" shouted the ref.
"Vivillon, use gust," shouted Viola. A strong gust was whipped up and Charmander struggled to stay in place.
"Quick Charmander, use metal claw and dig into the ground," Yelled Kenji. He saw Pikachu using this strategy the previous day in training and figured he'd give it a try. Charmander dug its claws into the ground holding it in place.
"Use dragon breath!" shouted Kenji. Charmander shot a purple flame towards Vivillon who stopped using gust in order to dodge the attack.
"Now use Smokescreen!" said Kenji. Charmander then shot thick smoke around the battlefield making it very difficult to see.
"Use gust and blow that smokescreen away," said Viola. Vivillon flapped its wings a few times blowing most of the smoke away from the battlefield. The group coughed in the spectating area while trying to see what was going on.
Viola scanned the battlefield not seeing any sign of Charmander. Where could it have gone, she thought, it's not like it had anywhere to hide and it's got a flame on its tail so it should be easy to spot.
"Now! Flamethrower!" Kenji shouted. Charmander then leaped up out of one of the holes that Marill had made earlier in the match with the aqua tail. It soared above the Vivillon and shot a flamethrower hitting it directly sending it back down to the ground.
"Oh no, Vivillon!" Said Viola.
Vivillon was slow to get up but managed to after a few seconds.
"Use smokescreen again, shouted Kenji. Charmander then exhaled the thick black smoke once again surrounding the field in it.
"Blow it away again with gust," shouted Viola. Vivillon tried to but hesitated, it had gotten burned on one of its wings from the last attack.
"Dragon breath!" yelled out Kenji, a purple flame shot out of the smoke towards Vivillon from off the right side of the field.
"There you are," said Viola grinning, "now use signal beam!" she shouted. Vivillon charged up and shot the attack in the direction the dragon breath came from. But suddenly Charmander leaped up right next to Vivillon, it had somehow moved over there? No, it's not that fast, thought Viola. Charmander then shot another flamethrower at point blank range at Vivillon who fell with a loud thud.
The smoke began to clear revealing Vivillon unconscious on the gym floor, and Charmander standing next to it.
"Vivillon is unable to battle!" shouted the ref, "making the winner Kenji!"
Kenji was stunned for a second, it didn't feel real at first. He then ran out onto the field and slid on his knees thanks to the ice all the way over to Charmander giving it a big hug. "We did it Charmander We did it!" he shouted with tears running down his face.
The group in the spectator area all cheered with joy, especially Ash, he knew how much this victory meant to him, not only that but he saw it was possible to beat Viola.
Viola returned her pokemon with a sigh and walked over to Kenji.
"Now that was a great match," said Viola standing next to Kenji and Charmander. "One to be proud of, if you keep battling like that, you'll be in the Kalos League in no time at all she said smiling.
"Thanks so much Kenji said standing up returning the smile.
"I'm sorry if my words seemed a bit harsh the last time you were here," she started but Kenji interrupted.
"No, you were right, Kenji said looking down, "I needed to hear it, at the time I wasn't ready for this, but I feel like I am now he said looking at Viola with confidence.
"Well, you've definitely earned this," Viola said holding out her hand, "as proof of your victory here at the Santalune City Gym, I present to you the bug badge," she said handing Kenji a small bronze colored badge in the shape of a beetle with bits of green sparkling in it.
Kenji was grinning ear to ear as he looked down at the badge in his hand, Charmander climbed up onto his shoulder to look at it. "Look at that Charmander, we got a bug badge he said beaming with happiness. "Char," it cried happily.
They were all gathered near the front lobby area for the time being.
"Now Ash I hate to do this to you again," started Viola, "but give me a few hours to get the gym ready and rest my pokemon, then we can have our gym battle."
"Yeah, that's okay," Ash said understanding. The battlefield was quite a mess.
"Hey Kenji, what was up with that last move from Charmander, we couldn't see anything from over where we were," said Ash curiously.
"Well, explained Kenji, the first time I just had Charmander hide in one of the holes that Azumarill created, then the second time we used dragon breath to make her think we were in one area and then Charmander was able to slide on the ice and get in close with the cover of the smokescreen," Kenji said proudly.
"I gotta admit, that one caught me off guard," said Viola with a sigh.
The group went to go have some lunch and explored the city for a bit. Bonnie and Serena seemed to be getting along great, after all she was probably really getting tired of hanging around the boys all day. It was nice to do some girl stuff for a change.
They went and visited some of the local shops and looked at all the great dress shops. Viola was busy snapping pictures of the group. While Kenji was trying to make friends with Alexa's Helioptile, with little success. It was a nice break after an intense gym battle.
Eventually Ash, Serena and Bonnie split from the group to check out a restaurant while Kenji, Clemont, Alexa and Viola were sitting on a couple benches next to a fountain.
"So, I know I lost the battle, but will you tell me about Froakie?" asked Viola.
"Well after I lost, I ran out to a bench not far from here actually," Kenji said recalling back what happened. "In that moment I ended up blaming Froakie for what happened, and I said some awful things to it," Kenji said looking down not proud of this moment. "I suppose looking back now Froakie was maybe trying to motivate me to not give up, but I didn't listen, and it ended up smashing its pokeball and leaving."
Viola, Clemont, and Alexa listened quietly to Kenji. They could tell it wasn't a pleasant memory for him by the way his face looked, holding back some tears.
"After that I fell into a depression I guess, I didn't leave my house and didn't talk to anyone, I'm sure my folks were worried sick about me but after what happened I honestly didn't know what to do with myself."
"Then I ran into Ash," he said looking up. "At first, I was kind of turned off by how upbeat he is all the time but that's just who he is," Kenji said chuckling a bit. "But there was an incident, apparently, Froakie had saved him, Clemont and Bonnie from some pokemon thieves and ended up getting hurt in the process. I had heard that Froakie had issues with other trainers but for some reason it chose to go out of its way to save Ash. Then there was the incident with Garchomp and the way he just jumped into action, only thinking about the pokemon's safety, really blew me away. He even risked his own life jumping to save Pikachu."
"Yeah, we saw that on the news," added Alexa.
"I then realized that I wanted to become a trainer that could overcome any obstacle, a trainer Froakie would be proud to have, Kenji said softly. I then talked it out with Froakie and we decided to let the past go and he ended up choosing Ash as its trainer.
"Oh, wow really?" said Viola a little shocked by this.
"Yeah, that's when I decided to travel with Ash on his journey, to see for myself what it takes to be a trainer like him, one that Froakie would choose."
"I think it all worked out for the best," said Clemont smiling.
"Really?" responded Kenji.
"Yeah, if it hadn't worked out like this you wouldn't have met your other pokemon and you wouldn't have gotten your gym badge like you did today."
"I think when you look at the big picture, this was probably the better outcome. Because of all of this you're a better trainer now, right?" Viola said.
"Yeah, I guess I am," responded Kenji, he was never good about confronting his true feelings like this, things like that just didn't come naturally to him.
"Thanks again Viola, for all of this," Kenji said smiling.
"Wow this food smells so good," said Ash as he started to drool over his large plate of food. He, Serena, and Bonnie had gone to check out a local restaurant in the area and were finally getting ready to chow down. Pikachu was content with its usual bottle of ketchup.
"Jeez slow down You're going to choke," said Serena giggling. She didn't really care that Ash had terrible table manners, just being out with him was nice enough, it almost even felt like a date.
"So, Serena, what brought you all the way out here," asked Bonnie with a bit of a mischievous grin, she could clearly see the daydreamy look that Serena would give Ash occasionally.
Serena, turning a bit pink in the face, tried to answer quickly. "Oh, you know I just happened to be strolling through the city you know, hahahaha, she said laughing nervously."
"Okay if you say so, bonnie said giving her a grin." She didn't want to tease her too much and drive her away, but she knew that look Serena was giving Ash.
"What did you say Bonnie?" Ash said with a mouthful of food.
"Oh, it was nothing," said Serena trying to laugh it off.
"Well, I'm going to go wash up," Bonnie said getting out of her chair, "come on Pikachu you too." "Pika?" Pikachu had its mouth covered in ketchup not wanting to leave but taking the hint from Bonnie went off with her. "Have fun you two," she said giving Serena a playful look.
"Yeah okay," said Ash finally swallowing his food.
"Okay, here we go," Serena thought as she mentally prepared herself. "Hey, Ash, can I tell you something?"
"Yeah, sure what is it," he said turning towards her. Her eyes widened at this.
"Well, the truth is, part of the reason I came on my journey is I recognized you on Tv and I knew I had to find you." She said slowly.
"You had to find me?" questioned Ash, "what for?
"Well, I wanted to return this," she said reaching into her backpack, and pulling out a blue handkerchief and handing it to Ash.
"Wait is this?" Ash started.
"Yeah, it's what you used to wrap up my knee when I hurt it," she said looking into his eyes. She always thought about how she would tell him this and could never figure out the right words to say. But in that moment the words just came spilling out.
"Wow you kept it all this time?" Ash said in amazement. He was pretty sure he blew his nose into it a few times, but she didn't need to know that. He started to feel a knot in his chest he hadn't felt before, what was this feeling.
"Yeah, I never got the chance to thank you for helping me that day," she said feeling herself turning a little pink again as she started to fiddle with her hair.
"Well, I think it would be better if you kept it," he said handing it back to her.
"What? don't you want it?" Serena said a bit hurt. Of course, he didn't want his handkerchief back, I'm such an idiot, thought Serena.
"No no, it's not that!" said Ash realizing his poor choice of words. "I think you should keep holding on to it," he said taking her hand and gently placing the handkerchief in it. "That way you won't ever forget me," he said smiling while looking into her eyes.
Serena was over the moon with this gesture, sure she didn't really return the handkerchief to him like she wanted, but this was just as good.
"Oh, thank you Ash!" she said clutching it in her hands, "I'll never forget this." She was on cloud nine right now. "I'll treasure it forever," she said leaning over and putting it back into her bag.
As she leaned over to put it back into her bag she discovered Bonnie, Pikachu and Dedenne, all listening in snickering with delight. Serena proceeded to turn beet red with embarrassment. They then joined Ash and Serena back at the table as if nothing had occurred and headed off to find the others.
As they walked Pikachu made little kissing motions at Ash and pointing at Serena poking a bit of fun at his trainer. Ash having been with Pikachu so long, he got the gist of what it was saying.
"What no way, she doesn't like me, she was just giving back the handkerchief I gave her all those years ago," he whispered to Pikachu who proceeded to face palm itself. How many girls was this kid going to let slip through his fingers it thought.
Pikachu, Bonnie and Dedenne all shared a look and nodded, they seemed to be planning something, what exactly that was though, Ash hadn't had the foggiest idea.
The fun soon came to an end though and the group found themselves back inside the gym, all the holes had been filled and the ice gone. This time it was Ash in the trainer's box and Kenji in the spectator's area.
"Ash," Serena called out to him on her way over to the spectator area, "good luck," she said smiling and giving him a wink.
Ash smiled and nodded back. Then he got that tightness in his chest again just like before hopefully he wasn't getting sick, he thought, it did seem to happen whenever he was around Serena, that was odd. Pikachu rolled its eyes at him snickering.
"I'm so nervous I hope he wins," Serena said nervously.
"He's got this," Kenji said confidently, it was weird watching Ash after his own battle. He knew exactly what was going through his mind.
Ash sent out his Pikachu and Viola sent out her Surskit.
He looked across the battlefield at Viola who was giving him a friendly but serious look. This time he was going to win himself a badge.
There you have it Kenji was able to pull off a win. I hope you all enjoyed it.
Not only is it Bonnie's mission to find Clemont a wife but to encourage the Ash/Serena romance i figured it would give her a little more to do
next chapter is Ash's rematch against Viola
thanks for the read!