Inspired by the official little comic of Ash and Serena sitting and watching Sylveon dance around. I kid you not, our boy just straight-up calls Sylveon "beautiful." I ran with it from there.
Serena sat under the trees ringing a meadow near where they'd stopped for lunch. They'd already eaten and cleaned up, so they were just taking a break before resuming their journey. Sylveon was trying out her new moves and body, thanks to her very recent evolution, and Serena was there if she wanted help or ideas.
The little fox pranced and leaped, trying her normal twirls and adding in her new ribbons. It made Serena smile to see her partner being so happy, so carefree. It was good that Sylveon seemed to find even more joy in dancing now, too—Serena knew that evolving sometimes changed a Pokémon's personality or desires, and while Sylveon was certainly a bit braver than she had been as an Eevee, there was still an innate sweetness and drive to dance. Maybe a bit more performance-oriented now, but dancing still made Sylveon happy.
Soft footsteps alerted Serena to someone's approach, and sure enough, Ash walked around the trees from the direction of the campsite, Pikachu on his shoulder. He seemed to be looking around, and when he saw her, he smiled widely.
"There you are!" he said as he came to sit by her on the grass. "You left so quickly. I wanted to be sure you were okay."
Serena smiled back and gestured to Sylveon. "Of course! Sylveon wanted to practice a little on her own, and I'm trying to think of good ways to utilize her new moves and ribbons in our next showcase."
Ash nodded. "Evolution is great, but you do have to rethink some things."
Pikachu had run out to talk to Sylveon, and the fox had started prancing around him playfully. Again, bolder than she had been as Eevee—but it was more like she'd come out of her shell rather than changed entirely. Pikachu looked delighted by this turn of events and cheered.
"Beautiful," Ash said.
Serena whipped her head around to see him with a smile on his face watching Sylveon leap around, leaving sparkles in her wake, ribbons whipping and twirling behind her. Serena certainly thought it was beautiful, but she hadn't expected to hear that from Ash. "Like a fairy, right?" She managed to say, still in shock.
"I bet you could do something amazing with all that sparkly stuff," he went on, waving his hand like he was brushing a cloud of it into the air.
Serena beamed. "Actually, I did have an idea for that!" She called over to Sylveon and asked her to do a Fairy Wind attack and then try to spin it around herself.
Sylveon leaped around a few times in excitement before trying it. It didn't quite work—the cloud edges swirled but it didn't go far. Serena hummed. How could they do this?
"Try using your ribbons to move it," Ash called over to the pouting Pokémon. Serena glanced at him. He was leaning forward now, excited as he always was about Pokémon and their moves. And he was pretty good at adapting to situations, so maybe his method would work!
It looked like Sylveon needed some encouragement, though. "Give it a try, Sylveon! You already twirl your ribbons to dance, so try to do that at the Fairy Wind!"
They spent the next half hour working with Sylveon and her Fairy Wind. The little fox was panting from the effort, but the results of their training were apparent—Sylveon could make a vortex of Fairy Wind now. Serena knelt down and hugged her Pokémon. "Well done!"
"Great job, Sylveon!" Ash said, coming up next to them and pumping his fist. "Your work really paid off!" Pikachu cheered as well.
Sylveon beamed and wrapped one of her ribbons around Serena's arm, and then did the same to Ash.
Serena's eyes opened wide. She'd thought that was just a thing Sylveon did with their trainers. Although she supposed, in a literal sense, Ash had been training her today.
Ash looked surprised too, but smiled and knelt down so he could scratch behind Sylveon's ears. Then he felt the ribbon around his wrist. "Woah. Silky? And warm."
"It's silky if you pet it that way, but if you pet it backwards…" She demonstrated with the ribbon around her arm and the silky fur of the ribbon stood on end.
Sylveon whimpered, though, and Serena quickly smoothed it all down the right way again. "Sorry, Sylveon! I just wanted to show him."
"So there is fur on these…huh." Ash, instead of brushing Sylveon's fur backwards, ran his thumb sideways across the ribbon. It was harder to see the fur that way, but probably nicer for Sylveon. "They feel strong, too," he went on, stroking down the ribbon wound around his arm, "even though they look thin and fragile." He smiled then. "Just like the two of you—strong and beautiful all at once!"
Serena did not speak. She couldn not speak. Had—had Ash just—?!
Sylveon pranced a bit, then proceeded to wind a ribbon around Ash's waist and pick him up.
"Woah!"
"S-Sylveon! Careful!"
Ash just laughed. Pikachu started hopping around, chirping excitedly at Sylveon until she picked him up, too.
It certainly seemed like Sylveon was plenty strong—she didn't look like she was struggling at all as she gently swung the teen and his Pokémon through the air.
Well, if Sylveon could do that, that meant all kinds of performance ideas were possible!
"Bonnie would love this!" Ash cried as he hung upside-down, holding onto his hat, his face red from laughing.
The mention of the girl reminded Serena that they were probably meant to be back on the road by now. She almost asked Sylveon to put the boys down before thinking of something. So, with a giggle, she said, "Come on, Sylveon!" and started jogging back to the camp.
The fox pranced after her, still holding Ash and Pikachu, who were both laughing now. As expected, when Bonnie looked up from feeding Dedenne some treats, she gasped and rushed over, pleading for a turn.
It made for a very fun rest of the day. They did eventually start on their way again, stopping to camp for the night not quite as far as they'd planned to get.
And Serena squealed into her pillow—Ash said she was strong and beautiful! It was just about the best day ever!