Note: And here's the final Hoenn chapter, and the start of my next hiatus. Said hiatus gonna last a lot longer then the last one, as I haven't made as much progress on the Alola arc, at least as much as I woulda liked.

As y'all are waiting, I'd like to see some more reviews for this fic. I'd like to know what y'all think is good, what's bad, what I can improve on, and what y'all would like to see in the future.

Anyhow, enjoy.

Hoenn chapter 9: Love in the time of Pokémon!

He should probably get some sleep.

Ash felt exhausted. The restless ride back from the Draconid tower took almost a day, and none of the trainers got anything close to a good night's rest. A soft bed waited for him in the guestroom back at Sapphire's place, and Pikachu had already taken the offer. But he just couldn't. Not right now anyway. May and Yellow stayed back at the Sapphires house, letting time slip by watching their old, boxy television. Ruby and Sapphire stopped by the lab to check up on the crystals. He probably should too… but that could wait until the morning. And Serena was… well somewhere. She disappeared when they got back to Littleroot, saying she wanted to relax by the park.

Ash was well aware that the events at the tower had left her shaken. She barely spoke during the ride home. Admittedly, neither did anyone else, so she could have just been tired. Still… they hadn't seen her for a few hours now and the sun was setting…

He shook his head. Certainly she just needed some time to herself. Or did she? Maybe he should go find her. But would that actually make things better? What if he made it worse? It is probably best to give her some space. What could he possibly say that would make her feel better? He was barely keeping himself together. But he was her friend. It wouldn't be right to just do nothing. What if she needed him? But what if he only thought she needed him?

"Ahhh!" He gripped his head. He was overthinking this. Right? Of course he only wanted what was best for her. That's what friends do.

And they were more than friends… right?

No. Not the time to think about that. He sighed. He should go back and get some sleep. They could talk in the morning if that's what she needed. But still… it felt wrong to not go and check up on her.

He took a deep breath. This wasn't him. When did he ever hesitate to be there for one of his friends? He looked at the direction of the park. He was in the center of town, a few minutes away from it. He realized that the sun was hanging quite low now. It was getting late, and she probably hadn't eaten anything yet. He was surrounded by stores, but most of them were closed. All except a small butchery. That'll do.

He hoped inside. It was a small place, with various meats hung about beside a large counter. He doubted he had the time to cook something up then and there, and he was quite certain that it wouldn't be anything all too appetizing. But a couple of sandwiches would do. He moved up to the counter. A young man was slouched over a small chair, his eyes closed and mouth drooped, a set of headphones fastened to his ears.

"Umm… excuse me?" Ash asked, leaning over the countertop to get a better look at the man. "Hey umm… excuse me?"

Still nothing. Ash shrugged. Maybe if Pikachu were here he could give him a good shock to get his attention. He knocked on the counter. Still nothing.

"I don't have time for this…" He went over to a small corner in the shop, sandwiches aligned on a refrigerated rack. He grabbed two, placed 5 pokedollars in front of the store clerk, and ran out the door.

It didn't take long to find her. The park was quite small, with a sidewalk circling a flat patch of grass. Perfect to play catch with your kids or fetch with your trusty Lycanroc. There was a single bench facing the center of the field, and he saw Serena head poking just above it. She was staring off into nothing, blankly staring at her feet. She looked up for a second, letting off a deep sigh before looking back down again, shaking her head.

He was about to call out her name, but stopped himself. He probably shouldn't startle her right now. Opting for subtlety, he moved up to her first.

"Hey… you hungry?" He intended to say something with a bit more tact, but this is what she was getting.

"Oh, Ash…" She looked at the sandwich in his hand. "Thanks." She took one of the sandwiches from him. It wasn't the greatest sandwich she'd ever eaten, but it was good enough. Hunger is the greatest spice after all, and she didn't realize how hungry she was until the sandwich disappeared mere seconds after she took it.

"Feeling better?" She nodded. Ash looked at his sandwich for a moment, before holding it out to her. She hesitated.

"Have you eaten yet?"

"I'll be alright. Take it."

Ash giving up food? Her eyes widened in surprise. Sure he wasn't a glutton or anything, but still… she swore he loved food more than anything.

Well… almost anything, she had hoped. Seems like she was right. She should probably reject the offer though, it wouldn't be very polite to eat right in front of him. But…

She was still hungry. She took the sandwich, finishing it almost as quickly as the first. She looked at Ash, slightly red from her moderately indignant display. His smile didn't help her embarrassment, though it did let her forget her troubles, for the moment.

It always did.

"You must have been sitting here for a while," Ash said.

"Maybe a bit too long."

"I get it. It's a nice park."

"It's not that nice."

"I mean… there's so much grass! You can run around… or play catch or…"

"Have a battle?"

"That too…" His voice trailed off somewhat awkwardly.

Sadly, the momentum of the conversation vanished in that moment, and Serena was ripped back to reality.

"I'm sorry… I…"

"No no, it's fine." He shook his head. He hoped this would be easier, but they had stalled enough. "I just came to say I'm here for you."

"Huh?"

Too strong. "Sorry… I meant… uumm…"

Her confusion was obvious as he tripped over his words. How was this so hard? It's not like he's never helped out one of his friends in their time of need through a few words of encouragement. But right now any coherent thought was escaping him.

"Just… I…" He lowered his head, took a deep breath, and looked back up, right into her eyes.

"Serena… are you doing alright? You've been looking a little bummed out since we got back."

A little unrefined but it got the job done. Now he just had to get over the fact that he sounded like a complete idiot for the last 20 seconds.

"I'm fine. Really. It's just…"

All too familiar words.

"It's okay. I'm… I'm here for you, no matter what. You don't have to tell me anything you don't want to."

"It's just… back at the Draconid tower… when we fought those trainers I… I got scared. And I froze up." She clutched her shoulders.

"Serena… it's alright to get scared."

"But Ash… I messed up when you guys needed to count on me, and I just stood there. You had to save me, and who knows what would have happened if you weren't there with Pikachu."

"I know the feeling…"

"What? But you're not scared of anything. Ever since I've known you, you've just been so… fearless."

"Not at all. I get scared all the time."

"Oh really? When?" her voice rose, catching him off guard. His response however, was surprisingly quiet.

"Like… well… right now. When I came to find you. I didn't know whether it was the right thing to do."

"You were just checking up on me. This isn't the first time you know."

"I know… but it just seems so difficult now. Back then I was so full of confidence. Picking up my friends when they were down was a no brainer. But now… I feel so unsure about everything. I don't know how much help I can really be to anyone."

"But you still came to help me. That was pretty brave," she giggled.

"And you still called out Delphox to fight at the tower, and fought alongside us."

"Only cause you talked me out of it."

"Being brave doesn't mean facing our fears alone. Like the other day at the festival."

"Right. You were really down that day."

"Yeah I was. I was scared then too. Scared that I wasn't myself cause I didn't love battling anymore. But then May spoke to me. She reminded me about all the people I've met and helped. That I would always be myself, no matter what."

"She's right. May's always so confident. She says she gets it from you, you know."

"I know. I think you guys give me too much credit." He chuckled. She did too.

"Well… I'm glad she helped."

"She did. And the funniest thing… I'm still scared. I'm still scared that I might lose myself again. I'm still scared that I'll have no idea what to do when this is all over. I'm still scared that I might let all my friends and Pokémon down. But I know that no matter how scared we are, we don't have to go through it alone."

She held his hand in her own. "Then let's do that then. Let's be brave, together."

The following day found Ash and Yellow ready to depart. They stopped by the lab. The place had become an absolute mess, scorch marks and debris littering the area. Despite this, Clemont stood over the machine, sat in the center of the room with pride.

"The future is now…" He spoke with restraint and certainty in equal measure as he pressed a large button that now sat on top of it. "Thanks to science."

A slight glow emanated from the machine, followed by a low ping. Like before a small door opened near the bottom, placing a small crystal inside a container. Clemont held it up to Ash and Yellow.

"Science sure is amazing," Ash said as he examined the crystal, a near perfect replica of the one he and Yellow used. Actually it was arguably better, being perfectly smooth from edge to edge. Not being untold centuries old also helped.

"Pikaaa…" Pikachu said, eyeing the crystal in awe.

"It's quite pretty. You guys did a good job," Yellow said.

"We already got a few created. We'll start sending them out soon," Emerald said, sitting by a small table at the side of the room. "You did good work out there. Got the crystal, made nice with Rayquaza, even heard you got yourself a girlfriend at the festival."

"Well… I…" He didn't remember ever confirming that with her… but considering everything going on over the last few days…

"Pikaaaaaa?" Even Pikachu was a bit confused. Certainly Ash would have told him if such an event occurred.

He would see her at the airport later. He and Yellow would be heading to Alola, while everyone else would stay back to help the professors research in dealing with the dark matter distortions. That included Serena and May.

"Well, if you ever come back with her to this lab, remember. No flirting. It's bad enough with Ruby and Sapphire getting all worked up around each other in here."

"Wait… you what?" Clemont said, visibly surprised.

"You were right there when they told us! It was only yesterday!"

"I must have been tweaking the crystalizer. But…" He blinked a few times before looking back at Ash. "You're dating someone now? Serena, right?"

"Yes..? well… no. Well… I think…" Ash found himself rambling, again.

"I think that's for them to figure out right now," Yellow said. They might have protested, but the look Yellow gave them made their blood run cold. Emerald quickly went back to his work.

"Well, good luck with saving our skins and all that. Don't get yourself." Emerald went back to work.

"Right… yeah…" Clemont said, still a bit shaken. "Good luck Ash, with everything."

"Hope to see you again soon Clemont," They shook hands, sharing a small nod.

"See you later, Senior." Emerald called out.

"Thanks junior. Good to meet you, Clemont."

"Good to meet you too Yellow. I hope you manage to find Red."

A small nod, and they quickly made their way out of the laboratory. To their surprise, Ruby and Sapphire were waiting outside.

"Glad we were able to catch ya," Sapphire said.

"We're a bit busy tonight so we couldn't meet you at the Petalburg airport, but we still wanted to say goodbye," Ruby said.

"It was great meeting both of you. We couldn't have gotten the shard without your help," Ash said.

"Maybe," Sapphire responded. Wasn't exactly the response he was expecting.

"Don't sell yourselves short juniors," Yellow said with a slight chuckle.

"Hmmf. Anyhow, we just wanted to tell ya to stay safe out there. We all gotta keep an eye out around here for a bit. But I think y'all got this. You just better bring back senior Red back in one piece, alright?"

"You bet we will. Right Ash?" Yellow asked.

"We will." Good to see that she was fired up. Guess he shouldn't be too surprised. Every shard they acquired was one step closer to getting him back.

"You got this. Just remember what you're fighting for and you can't fail," Ruby gave a knowing smile to Ash. He nodded in turn.

"We won't keep ya waiting, and Wally's waiting for us. Let's go Ruby."

Ruby and Sapphire walked off. Right before Ash and Yellow could leave however, Sapphire turned around for but a moment.

"Oh yeah, tell my look-a-like and yer little girlfriend to come back asap. Dad needs 'em too for some work."

"Everyone's really on the whole girlfriend thing today, huh?" Ash said.

"What can we say, we all got a little chatty after you ran off into the night to go find her. And then you both didn't come back till the sun set."

"I mean we had a good talk and then sat together for a while at the park…"

"Yeah, of course. Well, I guess you're gonna have time to talk to her a little bit more before the flight. Better pick your words carefully."

He swore she winked at him, but he wasn't really all there at the moment. With a cold sweat brewing, he started his trek with Yellow to Petalburg.

Just past the escalator would be the gate leading to the flight terminal. And considering that they hadn't seen May or Serena at any other part of the airport, it's likely that they were waiting for them there.

Ash took a tentative step onto the elevator, Yellow standing right behind him, holding Pikachu in her arms.

"Chu!"

"Pikachu's happy to be seeing all your friends again during the last few weeks," Yellow said.

"I have been too, buddy," He rubbed the small pokémon's head.

"He wishes you luck."

"Luck? With wha…" He turned as they reached the top of the escalator. There they were, Serena and May, standing at the top, waiting for them. Both had smiles plastered on their faces, and Serena's face seemed to beam at the sight of him. They stepped off the escalator, standing somewhat awkwardly in front of the young women.

"Well, I guess this is goodbye. It was great seeing you again Ash. You too, Pikachu!" May said.

"Pika!"

"It was great seeing you to, May. Maybe next time I can see Max again, too," Ash said.

"Next time. And it was nice meeting you, Yellow."

"Thanks for being such a great dance partner," Yellow said.

"Anytime."

"I hope we can see you again one day, Yellow. Maybe with Red, too," Serena said. Yellow nodded. Serena looked to Ash. She was about to speak, before she was interrupted by May.

"Hey Yellow, I wanted to ask you something. Just some girl talk, if that's alright."

"Sure, no problem."

Yellow and May walked out of view, sitting on a nearby bench. Ash and Serena didn't even question why they brought Pikachu with them, nor did they notice that they weren't saying a word.

"So… I guess this is goodbye for now," Serena said.

"Yeah… it sure is…"

"Maybe we'll see each other when this is all over…"

"Yeah… and then we can… talk and…"

Silence. A few moments passed. How did they keep ending up like this? Serena sighed. After all that's happened in the last few days, were there any doubts between them?

"Ash… I…"

"I love you."

She felt her mind short circuit for a brief moment, before coming right back down to earth.

"Well… took you long enough to say it," She gave her cheekiest smile.

"Serena…" he held her hands in between them. "When I get back… I'm gonna take you out on a date and it's gonna be amazing and we'll go anywhere you want and then we'll…"

He had already cracked like an egg, and after she shut him up with a kiss, it was his turn to completely short circuit. The idea of thinking right now was a foreign concept. When she finally released him, he was far past the point of talking too.

"Instead of thinking about that… how about you focus on getting yourself back safe and sound. Just remember that your girlfriend's gonna be waiting for you, alright?"

He nodded, his face completely red. He watched as she went back to May, the two waving to him and Yellow as they went down the escalator. He could hear ecstatic whispers and giggles even as they reached the bottom.

"Hey… lover boy," Yellow tapped his shoulder, finally snapping him back to reality. "Come on. It's not like it's the first time she's kissed ya."

"Yeah but…" He was still as red as a tomato berry, long lost in his thoughts.

"Pika..?"

"He just needs some time, Pikachu." Yellow grabbed his arm, dragging him to the gate. "And some sleep on the plane might help too."

For the first time in weeks, sleep sounded oh so nice. He finally had something pleasant to dream about.