Don't really know what to put up here.

Let's just get into it.

Later that night.

"Astrid! Astrid! Astrid!" Ash shouted repeatedly knocking on his friend's front door with Empoleon by his side.

"Ugh, what is it, dude?" Astrid asked opening a window from the second floor of her house wearing purple pajamas.

"Please open up! I have to tell you something!" Ash shouted.

"Can't it wait for tomorrow?" She asked.

"Astrid, please!"

"Fine, fine, I'm going." She replied with a yawn to then go back inside her room. "Absol, where are my contact lenses?" She asked to her Pokemon and after a few seconds she went downstairs to open the front door for Ash.

"Now, what the hell is going on?" She asked and Ash simply hugged her. "Uh..."

"I'm gonna have a girlfriend!" Ash shouted.

"I know, that's what I tell you all the time." Astrid replied.

"No, Astrid, listen, I just got confirmed that I'll have a girlfriend, I went to this shrine in the park and then it got surrounded in smoke and I met the God of Love and she told me I've been getting rejected because my love aura was altered by my passive life but now she fixed it and I'll have a girlfriend!"

"...Ok, dude, I think Serena's rejection hit you harder than we thought." Astrid said. "Why don't you come in and drink some water?"

"Astrid! I'm serious!"

"Ok, fine, let's say all you told me it's true, who's gonna be your girlfriend?" She asked.

"I... dunno." Ash said.

"When and where are you gonna meet her?"

"Uh..."

"How will you know she's the right girl?"

"I, uh, well, I'm not sure." He admitted. "Enamorus told me she had to explain me some things, but I got a bit too excited and left before she could."

"Ash..."

"Listen, I understand all this sounds pretty crazy, but you know better than anyone that I'd never play with the love topic." Ash said. "In fact, I can take you to the shrine in the park so you can meet Enamorus."

"Well, tomorrow is saturday and I don't have much to do." Astrid said. "Guess it won't hurt to go and see that myself."

"Great, then I'll see you in the north entrance of the park tomorrow. Until then."

"Hey, hold on there." Astrid stopped him before he could leave. "You're sleeping here tonight."

"Uh, what?"

"It's quite late, you don't live exactly close and I'm still not too sure of in which state you are right now, you did mention smoke after all." Astrid explained. "So let's avoid any possible problems. We'll go together to the park tomorrow, come on in."

"But I-" Ash was about to complain, but Astrid simply crossed her arms and gave him that look, silencing him and making him go inside her house along Empoleon.

"Good to see you came to your senses." She replied closing the door. "Now let's go upstairs."

"What for?" Ash asked.

"You're sleeping with me in bed." She said.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"What?" Astrid asked. "You know I live alone, there are no other beds here."

"Well, the sofa looks very comfy." Ash said.

"I'm not letting you sleep in the sofa, Ash."

"But-"

"You want me to use that look again?" She asked and Ash simply shook his head, reminding himself that he has never won an argument against the girl.

Astrid then guided him to his room and Ash looked in awe at all the trophies and medals she had collected, usual for an Ace Trainer, but the one that caught his attention the most was a Trophy that had next to it a picture of a young black-haired boy with a Prinplup and a young blonde girl with a Litleo, both of them holding together said trophy, which had a Pokemon Egg inside of it.

"You know? If it wasn't for that tag tournament in the school, we probably wouldn't even be friends." Ash said.

"Heh, yeah, everyone got to be with their friends, but you and I were the new guys and no one picked us so we had to do it together." Astrid replied.

"We really didn't work out at first, but we managed to combine our styles and win." Ash continued.

"And then we both took care of that egg until my Absol hatched from it." Astrid said. "We were like his Mom and Dad."

"And nothing has separated us since then." Ash ended offering a fist bump, but Astrid smiled to then hug him.

"Hey, Ash..." She whispered. "All jokes aside... you're really important to me."

"You're also important to me." Ash replied hugging her as well.

"Fine, fine, let's not get that emotional." Astrid said separating from him and holding him by shoulders. "Let's just go to sleep, ok?"

"Sure, but, uh, are you totally sure I can sleep on your bed?" He asked and Astrid simply took him by his wrist to pull him and made him sit on the edge of the bed.

"Come on, why are you so nervous?" Astrid asked. "We've known each other for like ten years, you don't have to be ashamed of this, we've slept together before."

"Yeah, when we were like 9." He replied and Astrid simply shrugged shoulders, Ash then sighed and gave in, taking off his vest, cap and shoes to then lay down on Astrid's bed as she laid by her side and the two looked at each other, while Empoleon and Absol slept together on the floor.

"See? Just two best friends sharing a bed. Nothing weird." She said.

"Sure, good night." Ash replied and the two closed their eyes, Ash feel asleep rather quickly and started snoring softly, something that Astrid noticed and made her open her eyes again to see sleeping with a smile on his face.

"Whoever that girl is..." Astrid whispered to then extend her arm towards Ash and carefully pulling him closer to her in his sleep, leaving him to rest his face on her chest. "She's gonna be the luckiest girl on the world."

The next morning.

Astrid woke up with a yawn as she sat on bed to stretch, noticing Ash wasn't there anymore, she got worried for a brief moment, but her nose then caught a certain smell that made her eyes turn into stars and then quickly ran quickly downstairs to find Ash in the kitchen.

"CHEESE OMELETTE!" She shouted.

"Yup, your favorite." Ash replied with a frying pan in hand and wearing an apron that said 'Challenge the Cook to a Pokemon Battle'.

"Ash! What did I do to deserve you!?" She shouted giving him a big hug that almost made him drop the frying pan. "I'll go prepare the table!" She exclaimed to then run out of the kitchen while Ash simply smiled and then joined her in the table with two plates of omelette, while Astrid instantly cut a piece of it and ate it, making her eyes turn into stars again.

"Hmmm, I'm so jealous of whoever's gonna become your girlfriend and will get to taste your meals 24/7!" She shouted with tears in her eyes.

"Well, I offered you cooking classes plenty of times." Ash said.

"But what would be the point? Whatever I get to do will never be as good as what you cook." She said. "Please, just promise you'll still cook for me after you get your girlfriend. I promise I'll try to not make her jealous."

"Of course I'll still cook for you, Astrid. We'll still be friends." Ash said. "But now that you mentioned the jealous thing, it makes me wonder what kind of person my girlfriend would be, like, what if we don't connect?"

"Come on, you're Ash Ketchum, you get along with everyone." Astrid said.

"I get along with everyone as friends." Ash said. "I've never had a girlfriend before."

"Really? I didn't know that." Astrid replied with a short laugh and Ash simply sighed. "Kidding, kidding, I'm sure you two will be a perfect match, after all, if the God of Love choose her to be your soulmate then it must be cause you're meant for each other, right?"

"I guess... so you do believe me now?" Ash asked.

"I believe you have no reason to lie about something like that." Astrid replied. "So let's get ready so you can introduce me to that Enamorus."

After finishing their breakfats and changing to their usual clothes, Ash and Astrid made their way to the park along with Empoleon and Absol.

"It's over here." Ash said following his track from the previous day while Astrid was a few steps behind him, still unsure of the whole situation, they continued until they made it to the shrine, but in front of the door was a girl of pale skin and long messy purple girl wearing an even longer dress with a web pattern, said girl had a Haunter by her side and seemed to be hesitating about whether or not opening the door of the shrine.

"Uh, hello there." Ash called her and the girl tensed before looking at him.

-ZING-

Both Ash and the girl felt a short electric current through their whole bodies and blushed while staring at each other.

"H-Hi..." She finally talked. "M-My... My name is Helena."

"Uh, I-I-I'm Ash and this is my friend Astrid." He replied while the blonde simply looked confused at the scene.

"So, are you coming to the shrine as well?" Astrid asked.

"W-Why yes, b-but I don't feel quite sure of what to ask for. You can go first." Helena replied to then take a few steps back, letting Astrid, Empoleon and Absol go and open the door while Ash continued to stare at the Helena and viceversa.

"If you excuse me." Astrid gave Helena an unfriendly look while taking Ash's wrist to then pull him inside the shrine house and close the door, leaving Helena outside with her Haunter who smirked at her.

"He was... so pretty." Helena said.

"What the hell is up with you?!" Astrid shouted to Ash inside the shrine.

"S-Sorry, is just that girl is-"

"A Hex Maniac." Astrid interrupted. "Trust me, you don't want anything with a Hex Maniac, they're not trustworthy."

"If you say so..." Ash replied looking at the door while the two got closer to the shrine, which now had a picture of Enamorus in her humanoid form.

"Huh, so she did change it." Ash said to then look around. "Enamorus, it's me, Ash, do you have a moment?" He asked and the room became surrounded in pink fog once again as Enamorus showed herself in front of the duo and their Pokemon.

"Greetings, Ash Ketchum." She said.

"Geez, I thought the God of Love would be prettier than that." Astrid said unimpressed.

"Ah, sure, everyone's fine with my brothers having abs and biceps, but if I had curves and boobs the whole internet would complain." Enamorus said. "Ugh, let me guess, you came back for those explanations you didn't let me tell you."

"Yeah, sorry about that, I guess I was a little too excited." Ash admitted. "But I'm all ears now."

"Men never change." Enamorus sighed. "Fine, but you have to promise me that you won't interrupt me until I'm done explaining, okay?"

"Okay." Ash nodded.

"Alright, first off, I'd like to explain you the 'Soulmate Shock', it's something exclusive to this dimension and patented by me, it's what you humans colloquially call 'love at first sight', you'll feel an electric current surging through your whole body when you meet eyes with your soulmate for the first time."

"You mean like a 'Zing' from Hotel Lavender Town?" Astrid asked.

"I told you I patented it!" Enamorus shouted. "I'm preparing a lawsuit, those guys will take it!"

"You mean like I just felt when I looked at that girl?!" Ash shouted.

"What? the Hex Maniac?" Astrid asked.

"You had your first Soulmate Shock already?" Enamorus asked. "That was faster than I expected. Now, continuing-"

"I have to talk with her!" Ash shouted to then run to the door.

"Hey! You said you'd let me explain!" Enamorus complained while Ash opened the door, and ran outside, but the Hex Maniac was nowhere to be seen.

"Helena..." He whispered. "A-Astrid! That was it! That girl is my soulmate!"

"Are you sure?" Astrid asked.

"I felt exactly what Enamorus described when I looked at her! I have to find her!" He shouted.

"But, Ash, I told you, you can't trust a Hex Maniac." She insited.

"Maybe she's different." Ash replied. "M-Maybe is just like you said and we're actually a perfect match. Please, I can't screw this up too."

"I... sigh, fine." Astrid placed a hand over Ash shoulders. "Let's go find my future sister-in-law."

And that's it! We got some more background for Astrid and his relationship with Ash, who also met with his first soulmate, of course it was gonna be Hex, which is named Helena here referencing the Hex Maniac that appears in Pokemon Masters, speaking of that, since most of the NPC girls that will appear here don't have actual names, we'll have a little reminder of them all at the beginning and ending of each chapter, to make sure no one gets confused later on with the names. this reminder will be titled:

GIRLFRIENDEX

Soulmates Met: 1/100.

Soulmates Girlfriended: 0/000.

.

001. Helena (XY Hex Maniac)

002. ? (ORAS Delinquent)

003. ? (BW Pokemon Ranger)

...

There, a little teaser of two more soulmates we'll see next chapter.

Let's see if we can actually complete the Dex.

See you next time in 'Can't be that easy'

Holdonlupin is out!