Whenever Wherever and The Endless Ways I'll Keep Loving You

Ep 2: Thinking Bout You

The party was crowded. People were engaged in lively amounts of chatter everywhere you looked. In the center of it all, there was a dance floor with even more people having a good time. Serena Yvonne was sitting off to the side at a circular table, eating the croutons off her salad. She was dressed in an elegant ball gown, well matching the gold theme that decorated the space. As Serena sat there watching everyone have fun, she couldn't help but feel a little left out.

This party that Serena was attending was all for the lead up to the Master Class Tournament. Performers, all with their 3 keys, were having fun and letting loose before they had to compete with one another. Serena thought back to her time when she too was competing for the title of Kalos Queen, one of her ultimate goals in life. She remembered attending this party, back when her first adventure was traveling around Kalos. How did Serena even get to be at this party anyways? Wasn't she supposed to be in Hoenn trying to compete for the Grand Festival? With a sigh, Serena leaned back into her chair. She thought about how taking this vacation to go back home would help her calm down and relax for a bit, before going out and getting her final ribbon. She could remember talking to May and breaking the news that she wouldn't be competing in the next contest but instead will be skipping it to travel overseas. May, being the good friend she is, didn't try to pressure Serena into staying and said that "she was free to take a break whenever she needed." Serena did feel a little bad leaving May all by herself but she knew she could manage on her own.

But seeing these girls made Serena feel conflicted. Was she scared of going out and competing on the top stage again? Was she just trying to avoid it and run away? Not wanting to dwell on her thoughts any longer, Serena stood up from her seat and took her cup along for a refill. She approached a table off on the other side of the room that was covered in trays of food and snacks for everyone to enjoy. At one end of the table stood large canisters that held many different drinks. Placing her cup under the lemonade, Serena opened the nozzle and let it fill up, almost reaching the top. She took a sip and turned around to walk back to her table. Before she could however, Serena was greeted by a brown haired girl, eager to see her.

"Serena! There you are!"

"Yep, here I am."

"I was wondering where you went. Got some lemonade hm?"

"I was feeling a little thirsty, that's all."

Shauna had a big smile on her face upon seeing one of her best friends. She invited Serena to come with her to this party, despite Serena's attempts to decline. Not that Serena disliked going to parties and socializing -she went to many in Hoenn for contests after all- but she had been away from the performance scene for a while and wasn't sure if she was ready to come back, even if this was a meaningless party that had nothing to do with competing. But with enough convincing, Shauna managed to bring her along. At first, Serena was having a good time. She saw people she met before and got to catch up with many of the performers she once competed with all those years ago. She even got to see Aria, who was always happy to see Serena whenever she got the chance.

Serena had fun engaging with some of the new performers too, learning about how they started their journey and what drove them to compete. Overall, her time was enjoyable and she was having fun. That was until a camera crew and a reporter came around interviewing each performer. Aria, of course got an interview, as well as Shauna, and the numerous new performers Serena just met. Expecting not to be interviewed, Serena casually took a step back from everyone letting them enjoy the spotlight for now, reengaging in conversation once their questions were done. What she wasn't expecting however, was to be recognized by the reporter as one of the competitors from the contests in Hoenn. It completely caught her off guard and she didn't seem to be ready for the sudden interview.

"Oh my Arceus! Is that Serena Yvonne?"

"Uh yep it's me. Hi." With a half smile, Serena tried her best to look happy with the camera.

"I did not expect you to be here! How did you even get in here? What made you come all this way? Isn't there a contest in Hoenn coming up soon?"

"Ah yea. I was just going on a little vacation, that's all." Serena seemed to not want to engage in this interview. She thought tonight she wasn't going to be interviewed for anything.

"A vacation… I see… Well I'm glad you're here! For a second I thought you were here to compete for Kalos Queen!"

"Haha yep… maybe next time."

"Maybe next time? *gasp* Could that mean you're planning to come back to the performance scene?"

"Oh uhm yea, for sure. I think I was planning to come back after I was done in Hoenn."

"That's amazing then! I can't wait for you to return! Your performances in your rookie year were some amazing things, let me tell ya."

"I'm glad you enjoyed them."

"And I'm sure you'll be even better the next time you compete, after all you're doing so well in Hoenn right now!"

"Aw thanks. I appreciate that. What was your name by the way?"

"It's Nessie. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too."

After the initial shock, she seemed to be happy that she was recognized outside of Hoenn, not only for her runner up performance years ago, but for being a top upcoming competitor in Hoenn. Serena shifted to a lighter mood once she got more comfortable with the interview. Nessie began to ask Serena a few questions for her interview when eventually their time came to an end.

"I appreciate you taking the time for a little chat! Glad I got to interview you, pretty unexpected seeing someone from so far away here after all."

"No thank you for the interview, I was pretty happy you recognized me actually."

"It's my pleasure, I just love performers and you've been a favorite since you debuted years ago! I just had to keep up with you!"

"Wow, that really means a lot. Thank you."

"Well before I go, could I ask one more question? This could be off camera too."

"Sure, go ahead." Serena beamed her lovely smile at the girl.

Motioning to her cameraman to put the camera down, Nessie then lowered her mic as well.

"Earlier I asked how did you get into this party? Cause it's like only intended for the performers in the Master Class Tournament. And you said you weren't competing so you probably weren't on the list. Wait… are you somebody's plus one?! Oh my Arceus, did you come back to Kalos to be with a guy!? That's the only explanation right? Cause everybody invited got a plus one… so are you with a guy?!"

The girl's sudden outburst surprised Serena. She couldn't help but laugh at Nessie's conclusion. "Haha nope. I didn't come back to Kalos for a guy. Shauna brought me as her plus one."

"Oh… I see. I was thinking you came back to Kalos for that one guy you traveled around with back then. I remember seeing him with your group all the time."

That one statement seemed to flick a switch inside Serena.

"Ah yea him…"

"He's not here is he? Now that I think about him… he kinda looks familiar."

With a blush creeping up on her face, Serena needed to shut this girl down. "Ah no! He's not here. He's uhm somewhere, some other region."

"Ah I see, a shame. You guys looked good together."

Now fully red, Serena couldn't help but feel flustered. "That's… nice. Well thanks for the interview again! I'll see you later Nessie."

With a quick goodbye, Serena left the area and made a beeline for her table. Nessie shrugged at the girl's fast exit and moved on to the next performer that fell in her sights. Meanwhile Serena was busy trying to control herself at the table. She wasn't expecting to hear about him at this party. What were the odds? And why was she getting all flustered? Didn't she put all that stuff behind her already? Wasn't that just a silly little crush that she had as a kid? Thoughts raced through her head.

This led Serena down a rabbit hole of thinking about Ash and their adventures, which led to the thoughts of doubting her ability to compete on the big stage once again. She sat there, eating her croutons, and didn't move a single inch until wanting to refill her cup.

"Hello?"

Shauna waved an arm in front of Serena, who was deep in thought with a cup of lemonade in her hand.

"Ah hi Shauna."

"You ok? You seem kinda out of it all of a sudden."

"No sorry, I'm fine. I was just thinking about stuff."

"What brought this on? Did something happen? You can tell me y'know."

"It's nothing important, trust me. You can go back to dancing, I'm fine."

Understanding to not press further right now, Shauna shrugged and accepted her temporary defeat. She'll just ask Serena what was up later.

"Alright, but you'll come and dance with me right?"

"Of course, let me just finish my salad."

With Shauna leaving to go back to the dance floor and Serena retreating back to her table, the two knew there were some thoughts that needed to be said. Serena took a seat and began picking at her salad once again.

With the party now over and the night beginning to become dawn, Serena and Shauna's heels clicked on the pavement floor as they walked back to Shauna's hotel room. The streets were pretty much empty at this time, with only a random straggler here and there. Street lamps illuminated the way as the two walked around Gloire City's beautiful landscape. Looking out, the moon illuminated the water, painting a beautiful picture.

"Man I'm sleepy. I wanna go to bed."

Shauna let out a large yawn and continued dragging her feet towards her home.

"Same here."

The two girls continued their walk, letting the empty silence be enough. After all, the party was loud and this nice, peaceful, and quiet night was a perfect after party.

"Hey Serena?"

"Yea, what's up?"

"You alright? You seemed kinda off at the party after a while."

Not answering right away, Serena took a moment to gather her thoughts.

"It's just you seemed to be having a lot of fun at first, as expected. But all of a sudden you kinda seemed to just disappear, which I've never seen you do."

"I was just thinking, that's all."

"Thinking? Wanna talk about it?"

Serena hesitated. She wanted to get this stuff off her chest but didn't feel like confiding in her best friend.

"Honestly? Yea."

"Then tell me about it. What's all this thinking about?"

"Well you remember Nessie, the interviewer?"

"I do, great girl."

"She interviewed me and it was really cool having someone be a fan and even recognize me from Hoenn."

"And that's a problem, how?"

"Oh that's not the problem! She was really respectful and her questions were genuine. It was just the last thing she asked me about."

"And it was..?"

"Well she asked me how I got into the party, seeing as I wasn't competing for Kalos Queen and this party was really only meant for those people."

Shauna kept listening as the two kept strolling down the street.

"Then she asked if I was some guy's plus one cause that could be the only explanation as to why I was here. And I mean it made sense but then she brought up Ash."

Knowing what that meant, Shauna decided to not interrupt just yet and let the girl keep talking.

"Not like she explicitly brought him up, well she kinda did but she was asking if I came back to Kalos for some guy and if I was his plus one to this party and then she asked if it was Ash, but didn't say his name, and then she asked about how he was doing like I keep tabs on him or something! And then she mentioned she remembered seeing him back when we traveled together in Kalos and she said she thought we looked good together and it was all just so much and like…"

As the girl kept rambling, Shauna put a finger to Serena's lips to stop her downward spiral.

"Calm down. I thought we had moved on from him already."

"I thought I did too! I mean when I saw him in Lilycove last year, I felt as though I had completely moved on already! I didn't get all crazy after that and it really did seem like I wasn't living just for him anymore. Like I grew up and became my own person now."

"I mean you did text me like immediately after saying you just saw him."

"That was like a letting you know kind of thing!"

"Alright alright. What I'm hearing though is that you're not quite past him just yet. Yes, you've become a person that doesn't rely on him anymore and can stand your own ground, but I think you still have a soft spot for him. I even hear you copy some Ash-isms sometimes!"

Serena blushed slightly at that comment.

"It's just, I don't know Shauna! My mom even said it was just a silly childhood crush. And I think I believe that. I mean when we saw each other in Lilycove, he was happy to see me, sure, but it didn't seem like he missed me much. It was like seeing a friend again type of meeting."

"I see. Well we all know that boy is as dense as a rock."

Serena couldn't help but chuckle.

"That he sure is."

Feeling satisfied she got her thoughts off her chest, Serena settled down. Even if they didn't really come to a conclusion, just talking through what was racing around her mind seemed to help.

"I still think you like him."

Shauna looked scared at the girl who was now blushing red and looked angrier than a Primeape.

"Shauna!"

The brunette ran away as fast as she could, despite her heels and a fuming honey-blonde trainer behind her.

"What? Don't tell me you don't think about him anymore when you lie in bed or whatever!"

"Shauna!!!"

Morning came for the Ketchum household as Delia began her day. She was up early today as she promised the townsfolk she would open up Pallet House a little bit earlier than usual. With a quick breakfast and morning coffee, she was off to open up the restaurant. Before she could leave however, Delia opened the door to Ash's room to take a peek at the boy before she left. She smiled seeing him sleeping in his bed after being gone for so long. Satisfied, she turned around and closed the door softly behind her. Delia couldn't help but think maybe Ash got a little smaller suddenly…

Behind the recently closed door, Ash Ketchum was standing still, holding his breath. The moment that door closed, Ash left out all the air he was holding and had to take a second to catch his breath. He too was up early as he had a problem he had no idea how to deal with. After bringing the younger him home last night, he snuck the boy in and let him sleep in his bed for the night. While younger Ash took the bed, older Ash took the small couch in his room and was on alert in case his mom walked in the door. She never did during the night and eventually Ash fell asleep from staying up way too late. It wasn't until he heard his mom moving about in the early morning, Ash went into panic mode and woke up, trying his best to not raise any suspicion. He didn't want to explain the situation to his mom just yet, this was something a Professor could understand better.

When Delia opened up his door, Ash hid right behind it and held his breath. It was the longest 15 seconds of his life. Now with the coast clear and his mom out of the house, Ash let his guard down. The plan for today was to feed the kid, ask him about what happened, and then bring him to Professor Oak who may be able to help out in any way.

With the sun just recently rising, young Ash was still asleep. Deciding there was some time to kill, Ash first went to his kitchen to see if any food was left for him. As he first entered, he looked right at the microwave clock and seeing it was 7:00am, Ash took note of how little sleep he got. About 3 hours total. Then, feeling his stomach growl, he looked for some food. Luckily enough, some eggs and sausages were nicely laid out on a plate, sitting on the kitchen island. Feeling hungry, Ash took a seat at the table, grabbed a good portion of food, and ate it right up, leaving no mess behind. Ash of course made sure to leave enough left over for the young boy sleeping in his room. After satisfying his hunger, Ash went back upstairs to check in on the sleeping boy. With a slow open of his door, making sure to not make any loud noise, Ash stuck his head in, surveying his room. On his bed, the boy was still soundly asleep, getting much needed rest. Next to him, Pikachu was also sound asleep, curled up in a little ball. Deciding to not disturb the boy and Pokémon, Ash pulled his head out of the doorframe and back into the quiet hallway, where the only noise to be heard was his own breathing. With a yawn, Ash descended the stairs once again and took himself to the living room, plopping himself down on the couch. Ash felt tired after getting essentially no sleep the previous night. Deciding he had some time, Ash let himself slowly drift off to sleep on the plush blue couch that sat in the Ketchum's living room.

Unfortunately, his sleep seemed to be interrupted and cut short. Ash felt a presence approach him and a small hand on his arm. Slightly angry and irritated, Ash opened his eyes to be greeted by a young boy staring at him with large brown eyes. The young Ash stood there silently, keeping his eyes locked on the older Ash as if to ask him something. With a groan, Ash sat up on the couch and faced his younger self.

"You're me aren't you? You definitely look a lot like me."

Ash rubbed his eyes and looked at the boy. His eyes were scanning all over, looking at his size, his face, his clothes, everything. It felt so surreal seeing the younger version of himself standing before him. Before answering the boy, Ash took note of how the younger Ash's eyes were looking at him with curiosity.

"And you're me."

Satisfied, young Ash took a seat on the couch next to his older counterpart and took a look around the place. He noticed how the place looked pretty similar to his own home, which was really the house he was currently in, but not actually his home. Young Ash was still confused on why he was here in the first place. Wasn't he just playing in the forest? His thoughts were then interrupted when his gaze fell upon a shiny display standing next to the tv.

"Hey… me…" With big wide eyes, young Ash looked at Ash.

"Yea what's up?"

"What's that?" Young Ash pointed towards the trophy case.

Trying to stay awake, Ash looked over to where the boy was pointing. He couldn't help but smile at the new found awe that was present in the young boy's eyes.

"It's all my trophies that I've earned over the years."

"…trophies?"

"Well if you really are a younger me, then you're gonna grow up to be a great Pokémon trainer."

"Really?! And do I get to travel around the world?"

Ash chuckled at the boy's eagerness to learn about his future. No harm in telling about it, right?

"You travel to many different regions, all over the world. You will meet many great people and have so many awesome friends. You will experience so many things, I just wish I could relive them all again."

The young Ash stood there, listening and taking in the new info about his future.

"That sounds like a lot of fun."

"It is. I'm excited for you to live through them, once we get you back home that is."

The mention of getting back home seemed to intrigue young Ash.

"How do we get me back home?"

"That's a great question. I was gonna bring you to Oak's lab later when he opens up."

"Professor Oak?!"

"Yea what about him?"

"Woah he's still here? In the future?"

"What did you think he was going to just randomly stop being a professor? He's not that old y'know."

Sheepishly, young Ash scratched his cheek.

"Haha… yea I guess so."

"Anyways, the lab opens in 2 hours so I'm going to sleep until then."

Closing his eyes, Ash leaned back into the couch and tried to get comfy, putting his feet up and resting. Once again, his attempt to sleep gets interrupted.

"Wait but I'm still confused on how I got here."

Ash groaned slightly. "I am too. That's why we're asking Oak later."

"But what even happened? I was just playing in the forest at summer camp!" The young Ash walked over and took a seat next to the sleepy Ash.

"And I was coming home from a show. I ran into the woods to check out a weird noise and then I just see you there, lying against the tree."

"I see. Well I was-" He was cut off.

"Save it for later. I'm going to sleep. Wake me up in two hours. You can go play with Pikachu or something."

Getting straight to the point, Ash Ketchum shut the boy up and went to sleep, trying to gain back the hours he lost.

"Wait, Pikachu? That same Pikachu that was sleeping next to me is yours?? I thought it was moms!"

"Yes, he's my partner. Now please let me go to sleep!"

"Fine…"

With the boys interruptions now over for now, Ash began to drift off to sleep, feeling his consciousness slip away from him.

"This is quite interesting indeed."

Professor Oak took a closer look at the young Ash standing before him. He leaned in and out, analyzing every part of the boy. To him, the face looked the same, the body looked the same, his hair was the same, everything about him was exactly similar to the young Ash that attended camp here years ago. Ash caught Professor Oak up to speed, providing a brief overview that he found his younger self last night, at the forest, and he remembers attending summer camp.

"It's definitely you, no doubt about that." Oak tapped his chin as he backed away from the boy and looked at his full frame.

"And you were saying he came in through a portal of some sort?"

"That's right."

"And it was here at the lab last night."

"In the forest, yes."

"Interesting."

"Any ideas?"

"Honestly, the best I can come up with is either some organization invented a way to harness time travel or this is the work of Dialga or Palkia."

"But what do Dialga or Palkia even want with my younger self?"

"That, I do not know."

Oak walked away from the two and took a seat into his rolling office chair, scooting closer to the desk to access the computer placed on top of it.

"The thing is, we know Dialga can time travel people around right? But we've never heard of time traveling a younger version of someone into the present. Granted, we don't know much about these things anyways."

Oak started typing on his computer to research anything he could on the legendary Pokemon.

"Really the only thing we have on Dialga is that it controls how time flows for all of us. And also it can time travel. That's about it."

"And who's to say Dialga really was the one to do this? Like you said, we know next to nothing about it."

Young Ash took a seat on the couch that was up against the wall of the lab. Older Ash took a seat right next to him.

"Now tell me about those portals again, did they look like the circle portals from back then?"

"Not at all. It looked entirely different. It was the same idea being a portal but its shape was more of like a ripped through paper, if you get what I'm saying."

"I think I do… goes back to what you were saying, it might not even be Dialga."

Professor Oak pushed away from his desk and rolled over to the two boys sitting on the couch. Stopping in front of the younger version, Oak rested his hands on his knees and faced the boy.

"So Ash…"

"Yea?" The present-day one perked up in response to hearing his name called.

"Not you. You."

The younger Ash pointed to himself. "Me?"

"Who else is named Ash?"

With a little finger, young Ash pointed to his older counterpart. "Him."

"Alright. Younger Ash then. Do you remember anything before you got here?."

"I remember I was exploring the forest…"

"Alright…"

"And it was with umm that girl… Rena I think."

At the mention of Serena's name, Ash listened even more.

"It was Serena." Ash was quick to correct the boy.

"Ah yea! right Serena. So we were exploring the forest and I was guiding her. But then I think I ran ahead to look for something and that's when I feel like I tripped and then fell forward and then I woke up here."

"Lots of questions."

Professor Oak rolled back to his desk and began typing away at his computer, writing notes in order to keep everything remembered. With his back turned to his lab, Oak could hear the two stand from the couch and walk across the room.

"Umm Professor..? Did you always have this up on your wall?"

"Woah! I remember that!"

Professor Oak's eyebrow raised at the question. He spun his chair around to take a look at whatever the boys were intrigued by.

"What is it-"

As Professor Oak finished his spin, he stopped immediately, shocked by the sight that greeted him. Hung up on the wall was a large banner spanning from edge to edge reading, "Welcome to Summer Camp!"

"When did that get there?" Oak stood up from his chair and joined the two boys who were standing and staring.

"I don't know…"

As the three of them watched, the banner seemed to glitch out of reality for a second, almost like static. Then, just as it glitched out of existence, it appeared again within the next second.

"What the heck…"

Simultaneously the three spoke at once, confused by the banner that hung above them.

"Now what's going on?"

"I hung that up years ago, from the time when this guy was attending camp."

"So is it not just people being time traveled then?"

"This is a lot Ash. I'm sending a message to the professor group and I'm asking if anyone can provide help or if anything like this is happening to them."

Professor Oak walked quickly back to his computer and began drafting a message to be sent out to all the professors in the different regions. With a click of button, it was immediately sent out to each of their computers. During Oak's typing, the banner continued to glitch, eventually coming to an end and remaining frozen until Oak walked back to get a closer look at the banner. He reached up to feel the texture and to touch the sign with his fingertips.

"It definitely feels real… wait a minute I'll be right back."

Professor Oak disappeared behind a random door and came back just as fast, carrying something folded up in his hands. With a flick of the wrist and a big unfolding motion, the exact same banner was present before them all.

"What is going on?"

A/n:

Hopefully this chapter was less boring as we catch up with Serena and we see how Ash deals with this younger version of himself appearing. Sorry if any of the Dialga and palkia talk was not canon or anything. I'll be honest I didn't watch all of journeys and as I was researching this I learned about the Dawn arc stuff and realized some of the stuff I had thought of was very similar to that storyline. However, I watched through some of it and I think what I have planned is different enough to be its own thing.

The next chapter will be the last for this intro arc and should be pretty exciting as we set up the rest of the story. Also apologies for the Serena part in the beginning, I reread through it a few days after writing and it reads kinda wonky to me. Probably cause I wrote that whole part while watching football so mb (I should probably stop writing while I watch football lol) Anyways thanks for reading and see you next chapter!