Amp It Up
Author's Note: Enjoy the story and R&R.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to or of the Pokémon franchise.
Pairing: Ash/Clemont/Serena triangle.
Summary:
The science of love is amazing.
It didn't feel right.
Clemont adjusted his sleeping position. For the last time, he told himself…for the twelfth (thirteenth?) time in a single night.
What number was he up to?
"Hey, Ash –"
No Ash.
Ah. He forgot.
It was bound to occur. The ceremonial split. A journey has a beginning and an end. That ending merely came sooner than he would have hoped.
He says would have. The scientific thing to do was to optimize distance and not hope at all.
Can't be disappointed if you don't take pains to expect good things to happen in the first place, right?
RIGHT?
"…"
Goodbye was a good thing?
They'd gotten it over with. He did, anyway (although it was obviously strictly on the surface).
Ash…How did Ash feel about it?
"I want this battle to go and on. Show me the real Ash all the way to the final move."
If he were here, I could ask him.
Clemont wouldn't, even if Ash were in the sleeping bag next to him, one bed over, or…whatever their sleeping arrangement at that hypothesized moment. Not due to fear (since Ash always gave him courage). Out of respect for boundaries.
The tug of reminiscence was strong. He tried to think of something else, but it only made Ash's absence worse.
Because Clemont's brain dug up the kiss.
Bunnelby! Dig!
What was Ash's opinion of the kiss?
Behind the tight hold of the dark night, he wishes he could claim he was singing the uncertainties about a kiss he gifted Ash. But the kiss he was mentally at odds with was Serena's parting kiss. The kiss she and Ash shared at the top of the escalator.
Girls could do that and not receive flak for it. Simply kiss their male travelling companions out of nowhere.
Had Clemont done that, the results would've been different, now wouldn't they? Bonnie would be on her knee doing her keeper routine, for one!
Who was he kidding?
Maybe Ash was hopping for joy inside, or thought he and Serena were better off friends, and smiled to avoid hurting her feelings.
In either case, Ash didn't definitively turn Serena down prior to her boarding Latias Airlines flight H71 to the Hoenn region. Which meant in the future, they might be reserving two seats on the same plane.
Ash and Serena? The future? Brilliant. When Clemont was left awake, his mind started constructing blanket-wringing scenarios. He could use a Pokémon who knew Hypnosis or Sleep Powder to help knock him out!
As an Electric Pokémon Trainer though, paralysis was more common.
OK, so he was paralyzed!
For people, it wasn't as easy as taking a Paralyze Heal or a visit to the Pokémon Center. Clemont continued to flinch into the following morning, so power-drained he put his glasses on such that they looked like they came pre-tilted.
He could also use a mirror.
"There's something I'd like to ask of you. A small favour," he mumbled past professions over breakfast. "It's something that I really want to do."
His heart's content was conveyed to Ash purely via battle. He didn't have Serena's bravery to kiss the man who supported them so.
Did he or Serena have the puissance to direct those three words toward Ash?
"I –"
The immortal tagline.
"I choose you!"
Bonnie bounced up to her brother. "Are you practicing sending out your Pokémon?"
"Good morning, Bonnie. You're…extra energetic."
"Ash is calling!"
Shock.
Stay calm. He moved discretely to talk to Ash, masking his excitement by imagining the sour taste of a lemon to ensure his lips remained pursed.
Ash was going to be in Kalos for the Pokémon World Coronation Series. Of course, Clemont had been watching Ash's progress in the tournament closely.
"You're gonna like the kind of person I've grown into, Clemont!"
Where had he heard that?
Serena. Those were Serena's words to Ash, before "There's just one more thing!" And Ash was saying them to him now?
Could this be? Clemont shivered at the possibility. Ash is declaring his plan to confess?
"Clemont, I got your letters."
"Sorry I'm into communicating the old-fashioned way, Ash."
Ash shook his head, while Pikachu goofed off smooshing his face into the screen.
"I enjoy reading 'em! The one where you talk about us shining is the best!"
"Shining?" Clemont couldn't recall writing a letter where he made any mention of shining.
"Yeah, Clemont! Shining together! I'll have pockets full of sparkling kisses for you when I get there too!" Ash said totally casually.
"Pockets full of…"
Horror set in. Clemont's hair frizzed up like somebody rubbed a balloon through it, or if an invention of his he unveiled with his Clemontic Gear exploded.
The letter he never finished and threw out!
The letter Ash was never supposed to read!
Why was –? How did –?
Bonnie. It must've been. His sister went through his trash, found the draft he'd crumpled, then stamped and mailed it!
She may have not even been aware what was in it!
But for finding out your other (male) travelling companion also had his eye on you, Ash displayed a surprising lack of Butterfree in his stomach. Similar to…
The kiss with Serena.
"Ash. You want to kiss me when you get here?" Clemont still couldn't believe he wasn't dreaming.
"Mm! Pockets full! And you gotta let me battle you!"
"Pikachu!" Pikachu agreed.
The science of love is amazing.
"Wow!" Bonnie whispered not very quietly. "He's a keeper!"
Well…At least Clemont established Bonnie wasn't randomly circulating garbage in the mail.
"S-see you then!" his voice cracked.
"Great! I'll swing by the Gym!"
Journeys have a beginning and an end. Broadly, they're from X to Y; however, circling back is integral to the formula. Ash had to return to Point X – to Pallet Town – once the journey was over.
There were multiple points on Ash's journey, Lumiose City being one major stop.
And like many examples of good television, there was the obligatory reunion two-parter in the sequel.