Once again, I begin a new fanfic without any regard for the many, many others I already have. Well, such is the life of a pantser. Thing is, this one will actually be downright structured, for my doing, and it will also have fairly short (1500-2500 words) chapters for the most part, so I have some confidence I'll be able to keep it going with some regularity.
Even so, before we begin I want to address a couple of things about the fic itself, just so everyone knows what they can expect. First, Pokémon speak. Serena and Ash can understand their own and each other's Pokémon, as well as any other Pokémon they've been in prolonged contact with. Ash can pretty much understand any Pokémon after just a short while. A large number of other Trainers can understand their own Pokémon as well, but not all of them can. In cases where the POV character can understand Pokémon, their speech is rendered like ("this"). Yes, I know that isn't canon. No, I don't care.
Second, this fic is AmourShipping. Even so, concepts related to polyamory will be discussed later on. If you really, really hate any other ships involving Ash…then maybe this fic isn't the right one for you. None of them will be in the fic as such, but they won't be bashed and will likely be spoken of positively, and I know how twitchy people can get about their ships.
Third, pacing. This fic, aside from being something I really want to write, is an experiment on my part to see how I like different kinds of pacing. That means certain chapters, like this one, will be very dialogue-heavy, while others will feature far more introspection. Balancing all of that is going to be hard, and I'll try to keep things enjoyable to read, but you're free at any time to let me know what you think about things.
Lastly, the starting point and continuity of the fic. It obviously branches off from the Kalos timeline with Serena's call with Palermo, but since I never saw Battling with a Clean Slate, I don't really know what Ash's intentions were when he went back to Pallet Town. Just assume that he didn't know. Continuity-wise, I haven't seen the entire anime. I've seen most of Kanto through Sinnoh, almost all of Kalos, and nothing of Unova, Alola, or beyond. The anime spans 25 years, so I'm not going to bother getting every detail right. If something I say contrasts with the anime or games…well, too bad. Canon is only as canon as I want it to be for this fic.
That's it! Hope you enjoy, and again, feel free to let me know what you think, good or bad.
Chapter One: To Old and New Beginnings
"Hey Ash, can we talk for a moment?" Serena asked.
"Yeah, sure, what's up?" Ash replied. He got up and followed Serena onto the balcony of the apartment as Serena tried to avoid Clemont and Bonnie's curious looks. It wasn't that she didn't want them to know what she had to say, but she felt she should probably talk to Ash first.
"I talked to Palermo just now," she said once Ash had closed the balcony door behind him.
His eyes lit up. "Awesome! Does that mean you're going to train with her to become Kalos Queen?" he asked.
Serena smiled at the amount of support she could already hear in his voice. She hoped he'd still be that positive once she told him about her real plan.
"Not quite," she said. She felt her face heating up a bit when she went on, "See, I told her I wanted to keep traveling and meeting more people and Pokémon…and she suggested that I should go to Kanto."
Ash cocked his head. "Do they have Showcases there? I mean, I know there are Contests, I guess, but they're not really the same, are they?"
Serena shook her head. "They're not, but Palermo said they've got something new, like a mix between Showcases and Contests, and that it would be a great way to develop myself as a Performer. So what I wanted to ask was…can I go with you to Kanto? I know you haven't decided on your next journey yet, but since you're going back home first anyway…I thought it'd be fun to travel together just a while longer."
Serena was glad it was already fairly dark outside, and that the blush she knew she had on her face would probably not be too visible, although Ash probably wouldn't have picked up on it even if it was.
Ash grinned widely. "Of course! I'd love to have you along," he said, and Serena felt the tension she hadn't even realized she was feeling go out of her shoulders.
"Thank you," she said happily. "I wanted to ask you first instead of just…dropping it on you," she went on with a sheepish smile.
Ash chuckled. "I'd never say no to traveling with a good friend, you know," he said. "I loved our journey so far, so I'm happy it continues for a while longer. Pikachu will be happy too, I bet."
'Good friend', huh? Serena thought with a small, yet familiar hint of disappointment, though the feeling was vastly overshadowed by the joy that she'd get to be close to Ash for just a while longer. It wasn't that she'd expected him to reject her, or anything, but to hear him confirm that he'd love to have her along made her feel as if Sylveon's Fairy Wind was lifting her up.
"Let's go and tell the others," she said with a smile, reaching for the door handle.
The goodbye with Bonnie and Clemont was fairly emotional, but when Serena sat down in the plane next to Ash, she already felt excited for the next chapter of her journey.
"Hey, so what are these…what are they called, anyway?" Ash asked.
"They're called Expositions," Serena replied, "and like I said, they're like a combination of Showcases and Contests. I don't know all the details yet — it's apparently a really new thing — but Palermo said there are two rounds. The first one is like the Freestyle rounds of a Showcase, except the Performer is supposed to participate to a greater extent than in a Showcase. The second round is a direct competition between two Performers trying to upstage each other, but the Pokémon aren't allowed to directly attack each other, unlike in a Contest. It's more about using the opponent's moves to enhance your own performance."
Ash nodded thoughtfully, and Serena knew he was already coming up with ways he would handle a competition like that.
Pikachu seemed to notice the same thing, because he said, ("Thinking of entering? Going as Ashley again, then?")
Serena chuckled. "Ashley?" she asked.
Ash groaned. "That was years ago," he said evasively. Then he looked at Serena. "Is it girls-only?" he asked.
Serena shook her head. "No, it's open, just like Contests are. Are you actually considering trying it?" she asked.
("Might want to work a bit on your dancing, if so,") Pikachu said.
Ash ignored him. "It sounds like fun. I tried Contests before, too, so might as well give this a try, right? Who knows, I might come up with some good moves for battles," he said.
He looked at Pikachu. "You'll help, right?" he asked.
("Of course I will,") Pikachu said immediately. ("You know I'd never run from a challenge.")
"So your new adventure is to become a Performer as well? Or…whatever they'll end up calling people participating in these Expositions, I guess?" Serena asked.
Ash shook his head. "I like battling too much to give that up. But…I have been thinking about what I want to do next."
He looked from Serena to Pikachu and then back to Serena and smiled. "Kanto is where my journey began, all those years ago. I did so many dumb things back then — the Ashley thing is only one of them — but I still made it into the Indigo League somehow."
He grinned sheepishly. "I got destroyed, and I honestly deserved that back then…but I was thinking, what if I tried it again? What if I entered the Indigo League one more time to show myself and my Pokémon how much I and they have changed?"
He looked at Pikachu with that determined smile Serena knew so well and admired so much. "What do you think, buddy? Would you want to do it again? Going back to the start, in a way?"
Pikachu grinned back, as always so much like Ash in his expressions. ("Do you even need to ask? There's no way we're losing there again, not after what we've just done here in Kalos. I say we go for it,") he said.
"If you've been in the Indigo League before, that means you have all the badges already, right? Does that mean you can just enter it again immediately?" Serena asked.
Ash shrugged. "I don't know, actually. I'll have to ask Professor Oak when I get back to Pallet Town. But even if I can enter with my old badges…I don't really think I want to. See, on my first journey…I didn't really earn all of my badges. I won some, but I got some others for unrelated things. If I'm going to enter the Indigo League again to prove how much I've changed, then I want to really earn my place there. I want to take on all the Gym Leaders again, just like I did on my first journey."
He looked at Serena with a grin. "Where are your Expositions going to be held? It doesn't really matter to me when I have my Gym battles, so we could travel together. I'll cheer you on all the way," he said.
Serena was taken aback for a moment. She'd been happy enough just to stay with Ash until Kanto, but she hadn't expected him to suggest traveling together beyond that. Her heart beat wildly and she felt her face glowing, and she knew that even though Ash would most likely be oblivious to it, Pikachu was a bit more perceptive.
She tried to rein in her happiness at least a bit when she said, "That would be great! I'll have to look up where and when the first Exposition will be held once we've landed, though."
"Awesome! Want to come with me to Pallet Town first, then? I'm sure my mom would like to meet you in person, too," Ash said.
Serena nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah! That sounds like fun. Hey, wasn't that camp where we first met near Pallet Town as well?"
"Yep, just a bit east from Route 1," Ash said. "I think Professor Oak still hosts those camps, actually."
"Then in a way…I guess Pallet Town was where both our journeys began, wasn't it?" Serena asked, trying and failing to ignore the ever-rising heat in her cheeks.
Ash thought about it for a moment. "Hey, I guess you're right," he said. He smiled. "Well, then it's even better our new journey is going to begin there as well. I can't wait to get started!"
Serena smiled back, and in spite of her still glowing cheeks, she enjoyed the feeling of warmth in her chest. "Neither can I!"