Chapter 23: A Beautiful Dream

Pallet Town, Professor Oak's Summer Camp.

A young girl wearing a straw hat.

Serena Yvonne-Gabena had come from the Kalos region to attend a summer camp host by the acclaimed authority of all things Pokémon, Professor Samuel Oak.

Although, instead of attending the camp willingly, the honey-blonde was forced to attend by her mother.

Her mother being an accomplished Rhyhorn racer, Grace Gabena.

The woman had hoped that by attending a summer camp, her daughter would grow out of her shyness and start making friends her age.

However, she knew the reason why the girl was so awkward around her peers.

Serena had grown up without a father.

His pictures being the only evidence that he even existed in the young girl's memory.

After Serena had been born, Mr Yvonne was rushing to Lumiose Hospital to see his daughter.

Excited that he had become a father.

According to eyewitnesses, the man met his end via a car accident.

All to save a young girl running in the streets, chasing after her toy ball.

One glance was all it took for the man to act.

His thoughts were filled with imaginations of how his daughter would look like.

'Would my baby girl look like me like brown hair?'

'Or Grace with blonde hair?'

These thoughts floated in his mind before he saw a girl crossing the street.

With a car zooming towards her. The driver too late to hit the brakes.

And the father changed directions towards the would-be victim.

'What if it were my girl?'

That was all the reason he needed.

Crash!

A pool of blood flowed on the street. The driver was calling the paramedics in a panic.

But the girl was safe. Crying at her saviour's impending demise.

"H… hey…, you al… right, little miss?" he mumbled with a weak smile.

She nodded with snot in her nose.

"Next… time, look before… you cross… the streets…, OK?"

And Mr Yvonne met his end.

After hearing the news, Grace was heartbroken. Cradling her new-born.

Who was now without a father.

Since then, Grace resolved herself to raise Serena as a single parent.

She would quickly become a famous Rhyhorn racer, a result of her hard work.

However, Serena would always be alone.

She never learned to socialize with other children.

Instead, she would often venture to a forest near Vaniville Town, where she lived.

Playing with herself became the norm. Sometimes even with friendly wild Pokémon.

But she was alone in the end.

Another favourite pastime for her would be reading romantic storybooks of knights and princesses after kindergarten ended.

Her favourite being ones from the Galar region.

But since her mother was busy with work, no one read for her.

Because she was alone.

Which was what prompted Grace to attend her in the summer camp.

This alone made Serena harbour resentment towards her mother.

But she had no choice. And so, she begrudgingly relented to her mother's wishes.

"Alright, kids. Our first task for today is Pokémon searching," Oak announced to the young campers.

The excitable children cheered and listened closely at his instructions.

"Bring back a Pokémon in the forest with a badge and you will be awarded points," he explained while showing them a golden badge.

With that, the children split into groups and ran into the forest.

All except two.

But the girl was shy and retreated into her thoughts, her straw hat covering her face as she walked into the forest with her head down.

Not even noticing a certain raven-haired boy talking to Oak.

Serena did not want to participate in the competition and decided to find a secluded spot in the forest until it was time to go back.

However, the honey-blonde realized that this was not the forest she was familiar with, and so, got lost quickly.

Her anxiety was at an all-time high and she began trembling. The tiniest noise caused her to jump.

While she was finding a path back to Pallet Town, a Poliwag jumped in fron of her, causing her to fall to a small open clearing.

Resting her back on a trunk, she found that she had sprained her knee. The pain too much for a little girl such as herself.

Combining her anxiety at its peak, the fear of being lost among unknown woods as well as pain from her injury, she let out a cry for her mother.

"Mommy!"

She whimpered with tears in her eyes.

'I shouldn't have come to this camp!' she thought, regretting her decision.

'I want to go home…,' she sniffled at the thought and her whimpers got louder.

A rustling was heard in front of her.

"Hey, Poli…"

Poliwag hopped in front of her before hopping off again.

As if it had done its job.

Serena then faced forward, drying her eyes.

A raven-haired boy stood in front of her.

Sunlight illuminating his features.

Unruly black hair.

Lightning shaped marks on each cheek.

And the most beautiful red eyes that took her breath away.

Blue meets red.

Red meets blue.

Both shared the same expression.

"Hey, my name's Ash. What's yours?" the boy asked.

"Serena," the girl answered.

And so began her ever-lasting encounter.

Unlike the other boys his age, Ash was leagues ahead in maturity due to Delia Ketchum's passing.

Because of this, the boy forced himself to mature mentally.

A side effect from this change was his way of taking care of his people he cherished.

An example would be when Ash and Gary saved Blue from her bullies in the past.

The raven-haired boy's habit of protecting others was to sacrifice his body recklessly against his opponents.

'Attack me instead' was the feeling his habit exuberated.

Had it been a matter of life and death, it would have been labelled as extreme recklessness to the point where it blurred the line between bravery and suicidal.

Oak and her granddaughter, Daisy Oak, noticed this and tried their best to raise him properly. Hoping to change his self-sacrificing nature.

But Ash remained steadfast in his nature, refusing to change.

A contributing factor was his mother's passing. The guilt of killing his mother during childbirth cursing him with self-deprecating thoughts.

A survivor's guilt.

'I should have never been born.'

Protecting others with his own body. That was his way of punishing himself for Delia's death.

To help others at the cost of himself, without a second thought.

It would become a part of him for the rest of his life.

'Transform your heart into steel.'

After all, he was never one to give up.

'That way, it won't be as painful.'

That was his curse. And he knew it.

Until a certain honey-blonde entered his life.

And so began his ever-lasting encounter.

She was a ray of light in his childhood.

Her bright blue eyes illuminated his world of gloom.

Her cute giggles formed lifted his spirit.

And finally, her smile. Radiant and beautiful.

It became the boy's reason to make her happy.

Warm blood flowed back into his cold heart of steel.

And so, without both realizing it at the time, Serena had captured Ash's heart.

Just as he did with her.

The honey-blonde quickly became the center of his mind.

Wherever she went, he went with her. Always together, never parting.

Ash who never once let anyone besides two others call him 'Red', allowed her to. And he gave Serena the nickname 'Yellow' for her yellow straw hat that she wore when they met.

Also, it made the girl blush pink to her ears, something the boy would enjoy seeing.

The boy was drunk of her presence, the girl as well.

It even got to the point where she would sleep with the boy in his room.

Afraid that Ash would disappear. As well as an excuse to cuddle her 'best friend'.

His scent would always soothe her mind and drift off into her dreams at record time.

Ash did not mind it one bit as he found that with her, he could sleep peacefully for once. His guilt swept away in his slumber.

And will go away forever after one fateful day.

Ash once told Serena about his dreams and Gary. Saying that the orange-haired boy had already found his purpose in life.

While Ash had nothing. He was empty.

Sure, he loved Pokémon. But he did not know what kind of Trainer he wanted to be.

Ranger. Ace. Elite Four. Champion. None of them appealed to him.

And if none of them caught his fancy, then what kind of Trainer he want to be?

The boy was not even sure if he could even be a proper Trainer. Thus lied his dilemma.

If he did not have a dream or a goal in mind, then was he even living in the first place?

Someone alive, but not living.

To not dream is not wanting to be alive.

That was Ash's line of thought. And it broke his heart acknowledging it.

For the first time, Ash showed weakness.

Both to the world and to Serena.

The girl was shocked to hear her friend so meek and sad.

Her image of Ash as a perfect knight who saved her in the woods was immediately shattered.

He was not crying. But to her, he was.

She saw a sobbing child unable to find meaning in his life.

Serena wanted to save him. And the girl did just that.

If the boy was empty, then she would give his life purpose.

He had saved her once, now it was her turn.

"Then dream bigger! The greatest Pokémon trainer in the world? That's nothing compared to a Pokémon Master!" she blurted out without thinking.

Ash stared at the honey-blonde, his red eyes locked onto her blue ones.

Realizing what she just said, she started to panic in her thoughts.

'Eh?! What in the world is a Pokémon Master?! Why did I just...'

'No. It doesn't matter. I just need to through that dummy's head.'

And she doubled down, trying to get her point across.

"I don't know what a Pokémon Master is, but it sounds cool. And if anyone can become one, it will be you, Red!" Serena exclaimed with intense passion.

Pokémon Master. A title no one had, let alone even existed.

A wild fantasy made up by a single girl.

A ridiculous dream so unbelievable that one would be crazy enough to attempt.

But for Ash, it became his source for living.

No longer living to just live, but to live for a dream.

A purpose. An ideal.

And Ash looked at his saviour with awe.

His curse of not giving up, now turned into his greatest strength.

Who cares if the dream was unattainable? A mere fantasy?

The boy will twist that fantasy into a reality.

Because he will never give up until it was over.

That is her gift to him. A beautiful dream.

And with that, Serena Yvonne-Gabena had saved Ash Ketchum for a second time.

"Alright! Then I'll have to live up to your expectations!" Ash answered with newfound determination.

"I promise you, Yellow. I will be a Pokémon Master!"

That declaration made Serena extremely happy.

Happy that Ash finally had a goal. Happy that he was no longer sad.

She did not mind that her illusion of him as her invincible knight was shattered.

Because what she now saw was a genuine Ash.

An Ash true to himself.

And that was infinitely better than whatever delusions she could conjure in her mind. For this is the real boy that became her first friend.

Her Pokémon Master. Her first love.

Serena's time in Pallet Town was the happiest she had ever been in her 5 years of life. All because of a certain raven-haired boy.

Though he could be stubborn and reckless at times, Ash was always looking out for her.

He pulled out of her shyness and helped her make friends other than him. Ash knew the girl was awkward and was incredibly jubilant when she became his friend.

But she needed others as well. He knew he could not monopolize her for himself and so, helped her in socializing.

She gave him an unimaginable gift. And Ash would repay her by making her life better.

Soon, Serena got along well with another girl named Chloe, a daughter of Oak's apprentice. Another boy named Goh also became her friend but they rarely interacted with one another since all Goh talked about was a Pokémon named Mew.

But Ash was still her favourite. At first, she clung onto him whenever she needed courage.

Even after she came out of shell of shyness, she still did it out of habit as his scent was imprinted as 'happy smell' in her mind.

But time waited for no one.

Soon, it was time for Serena to return to Kalos.

Serena was in shambles. A total 180 change from her first day, she begged her mother to let her stay with Ash.

Even if the girl understood that it was impossible.

Grace was happy that her daughter had found a reason to smile so brightly during the summer camp. Grateful to the raven-haired boy named Ash for making Serena so radiant.

Which was why she got heartbroken as she saw her little girl bawling her eyes out at the thought of being separated from the raven-haired boy.

Before their departure, Ash gave her his handkerchief, the one he used for Serena when they met. A symbol of their encounter.

Serena, on the other hand, gave him a silver locket. Her name engraved on it with a picture of her smiling.

With the words 'Vaniville Town'.

But Ash never got to ask which region she lived in.

Because he was sobbing uncontrollably, prompting Serena to follow as well.

The two hugged each other tightly, not wanting to let go.

Ash had never cried this much before in his 5 years of age. The sight of which caused Oak to be heartbroken.

Unbeknownst to Oak and Grace, Daisy also watched, unable to contain herself as she saw the two kids sobbing.

Ash felt Serena's tears on his T-shirt, now damp and crumpled in her tears and hold.

Their time together felt like a dream. A dream that they never want to wake up from.

The happiest dream of their lives.

He had vowed to make her happy whenever they were together.

However, since they were parting, the boy had technically kept his vow.

After all, a finished promise signified its end… right?

...

Ash could not accept that.

He did not want the dream to end like this.

No matter how beautiful a dream was, if the end only served to bring pain and suffering, is it even a dream at all?

No. And he would not stand for it.

A beautiful dream can only be beautiful if everything was beautiful.

Beginning, middle and end.

Nothing less than that. That was what made it shine so blindingly.

Unattainable. Impossible. Illogical.

A ridiculous dream so unbelievable that one would be crazy enough to attempt.

And that was the embodiment of Ash Ketchum:

The one who never gives up until it's over.

Once more, the boy promised the girl.

"I promise you, Yellow"

An oath of reunion.

"When I finally become a Pokémon Trainer"

A solemn pledge to see each other again.

"I'll find you"

A contract of the heart.

The kiss that seals their Fate.

She will wait for him. He will search for her.

Chapter 23: A Beautiful Dream

"No matter how long it takes"