She never imagined the genêts so deceitful
Serena hadn't slept all night, and not just because of Georgie's relentless screaming. Ash was in Alola, several thousand miles from Hoenn, and it was hard to imagine him travelling back and forth between the two regions.
"Hm..."
If Ash was in the emergency room, shouldn't she have met him? What she meant was that, as far as she knew, she wasn't in the best of shape when she arrived, and the boy could have come back to make sure that his friend, the one who had accompanied him all over Kalos, had recovered properly. And if he hadn't come to say hello in person, at least... She had questioned all the nurses and orderlies, but none of them had seen or heard anything about a visit from a pikachu trainer. So, yes, Ash was an optimistic boy who must have trusted the hospital staff, but it was still crazy to think that a Charizard would be more worried than...
"Char," the dragon muttered.
Serena sighed. Her pokemon friend was the only one who could help her see things more clearly, and he had just decided to catch up on his sleep. Even the nurse who had come to change the drip hadn't been enough to wake him - though he struggled a little at first, blinking before closing his eyelids without thinking of opening them again.
"Charizard," she called reluctantly.
"Zar..."
"Just a few minutes."
He made a few chewing movements, his eyes still closed when he asked:
"Chari?"
"No, I wouldn't have woken you if it was just to get something."
"Chaaaazar," he called back with a yawn.
"You need a rest too," she said annoyed. "Look at you! You can barely... You haven't even opened them yet!"
Ash nodded. He just needed some time to adjust to the light, but he was perfectly... perfectly...
"Charizard!"
"Char!" he woke up after a good five minutes absence. "Char, Chari?"
"What I wanted... When you brought me to the emergency room, you were alone, weren't you?"
"Chari," he nodded, grimacing.
"And no one helped you there? Or even before, when you were on your way to the hospital."
"Rizar?" he mimed.
"I wasn't thinking of an alakazam, more of a human."
Ash crossed his arms and closed his eyes to fall asleep - Think! But he couldn't really see what his trainer was getting at. Yes, he'd found the hospital on his own, using the signs, and a little help wouldn't have gone amiss, but waking Wattson, who was snoring... No one could do the impossible.
"So?" the young girl asked again.
"Zar," the fake pokemon sighed. "Chari char riiiiiiizar."
"Oh..."
But she was sure that... He's lying to you, she remembered Amelia's words. And indeed, the papers she had found clearly indicated that Ash had been there at one time or another. Maybe Charizard just didn't want to talk about his encounter with the trainer who might have stolen his trainer's attention. But she had deliberately avoided using the first name 'Ash', and he had never seen what he looked like, so... Unless Ash had introduced himself directly, as usual, but then it would be surprising if the reptile didn't flinch in response. He's lying to you.
"Char?"
She couldn't really believe it, the dragon seemed too honest and if you jumped at the slightest hint of silence, you didn't have enough neurons left to put on an act anyway. Well, obviously she would have to do something else to find out where those Post-It notes had come from. Serena sent the dragon back to dreamland with a few pats and waited for the nurse to come back and disconnect her from the drip; the next dose wouldn't be for another four hours, but that was still a relatively short time if things didn't go according to plan.
And that was just it... Serena pulled up her hospital gown, grimacing as she felt the cathlon move in her vein, while the emergency secretary reluctantly consulted her colleagues' schedules.
"Oh yeah, three weeks," said the emergency receptionist, a little irritated - either by Serena interrupting one of her rare moments of peace before the next train of patients, or by her colleague who hadn't bothered to ask for more leave than she had.
"And you don't have any security cameras?"
"I can't let you consult them like this and... Four weeks?" she turned the page of the calendar. "She really took four weeks!"
Serena stepped back, afraid of having the holiday of the person she was looking for thrown in her face. Four weeks, she wrote dazedly in the small notebook she had with her. She couldn't stay in Mauville that long, not with the Grand Festival, the missing ribbons, all the effort her pokemon had put in... But she still didn't know how Ash was doing, and there had been the letter, and now this!
The lift doors slammed shut. No matter how much Serena thought about the boy, she couldn't help but imagine, as she made her way back up to the service, the angry face the dragon would make if he realised she'd left without telling him. Ash, Charizard, these two managed to give her a migraine for completely opposite reasons: one, because he seemed absolutely determined not to let her find him, and the other, because he was far too good at attracting attention by behaving in completely bizarre and strange ways - and why had she shown him Love and Battles in the first place?
The door opened. Whether it was Charizard or Ash, she no longer understood either of them. It was as if they'd agreed to play a bad joke on her: Charmander appearing almost as soon as Ash disappeared, Charmander immediately trusting her as if he already knew her, never really behaving like a real pokemon, and the way he smiled as if he was taunting her by imitating...
He's lying to you.
Serena swallowed. What if he wasn't lying, what if no one had come to help him in the emergency room, what if he was lying about something else entirely!
The girl opened the notebook to the page where she had written 'Charizards don't write', two lines underlined. And that was true, even if he was different, there were just some things he couldn't do. Like cook almost as badly as Ash.
Biting her lip, she turned the pages. All the differences she'd written down, all the things that kept him from the charizards, and if she decided to focus on the similarities this time instead. Same smile, she noticed. All the times she'd thought he reminded her of the boy, all the times she'd thought she saw the trainer in him, the way he looked, the energy, the way he rubbed his nose when he was embarrassed. No, it couldn't be, he still couldn't be... Although that would explain why he fled every time she undressed...
Unfortunately, we don't have exact images of what happened. However, on the basis of the testimonies gathered and the meticulous reconstruction work carried out by our experts, we can assume that Serena's last words, as she realised that she had captured not a pokemon but the boy she loved, were (although we can't guarantee their exact accuracy) these:
"AAAAAAH!"
Ash would probably have turned half the hospital upside down looking for his missing trainer if he had slept lightly enough to be woken by his roommates' screams. As it was, he was still fast asleep when the young girl returned, his eyelids fluttering only slightly as she walked out almost immediately, slamming the door behind her.
"Zar?" he asked at a loss.
"N-nothing!" she stammered as he opened the door.
He rubbed his eye, not noticing the horrified look on the girl's face as she stared at him, just thinking: Serena needed to rest, and she was up, so Serena needed to get back into bed. And if possible, next to him, so that he could watch over her - even from the depths of that dreamless coma one experiences after a few sleepless nights.
"Ah!" she cried as he took her hand and led her back into the room.
Only then did he notice that his trainer was almost as pale as the day he had taken her to the emergency room. It was enough to give him a good shot of adrenaline and clear his head.
"Serena?" he hissed worriedly.
She quickly broke free of the reptile's grip and slammed into one of the walls of the room as she retreated. Serena's cheeks were now so red she wondered if smoke was coming out of them. Another bout of fever? Ash was determined to find out, but she abruptly stepped aside before he could touch her forehead.
"You're having your period?" was all he could think to say.
"No!" she cried in a high-pitched voice.
"It's true it's a bit early," he admitted, counting the days on the few fingers he had.
The small moan Serena let out at that moment was a mixture of confusion and pain. How could he talk about this so freely when he was... he really could be...
"Would you tell me?" she asked, almost on the verge of tears. "Would you tell me if it was you?"
"Char?" he tilted his head to one side.
Serena put both hands to her heart, unable to look him in the face.
"We spent a lot of time together... And it's true, I always thought you were different, and at the same time you looked a lot like him. Ah! I think I'm still running a fever, that must be why I think that... well..."
Ash blinked and tilted his head slightly towards her, startling her again.
"I think... Water!" she hissed. "Would you see if you could find some?"
"Rizar," he pointed to the jug on the table.
"Fresh water, very fresh water," she said, touching his burning forehead.
"Char," he finally agreed, although he would have preferred to see her under the covers before he left her... Although a compromise had to be possible.
Serena dropped the notebook, breathless as he pulled a blanket around her shoulders and she felt his hot breath next to her face.
'You rest, okay?'
The girl grabbed the wool mechanically, pulling it a little tighter over her. This is softness, Miss. What if the scales withered and now, with the same worried, concerned expression, she imagined :
"Ash?"
"Char?" he smiled gently at her.
She was so flushed that smoke was about to come out of her head. When he said that she shouldn't exert herself and rest, because the Menin-thing must still be lurking in her body and would take advantage of the slightest moment of weakness to...
"Chari," he repeated. "Chaaaa-ri?" he said more slowly. "Char... CHARI!?"
He nearly fell backwards, or even out of the window, recoiling so violently, his eyes bulging as Serena's features sank deeper and deeper.
"Is that you? Is it really you?"
"Who? Ash?" he gasped. "I've never seen him! And I don't want to meet him, not now, and... Did you want some water?"
He slammed the door without giving the girl a chance to answer. He had to get away, and quickly, very quickly, and... Wait! Serena's heart leapt as he reappeared panting and half off balance on the doorknob.
"And rest!"
This time the door closed for good and Serena felt her legs give way beneath her. She slid to her knees, her cheeks burning horribly. All right, then. It wasn't that bad. Charizard, Ash, no, you needed to re-la-ti-vi-se, and what better way to do that than with a little breathing exercise. Come on, breathe in and:
"AAAAAAH!"
Ash slapped his hand on the board and cleared his throat. Serena was in the shower, Wattson had gone into town in search of the lost café, it was here and now that he had to rally the troops. Dignity, precision, control, aplomb, with his back straight and his neck up, Ash would only get one chance to demonstrate all these qualities and get them to rally to his cause. That's why he'd thought long and hard about the best possible name for his mission, until he'd come up with one he was sure would meet with universal approval:
"Operation Cheat on Serena".
"You'd have to be on a date for that, wouldn't you?"
The shapeshifter's entire body disintegrated under the laughter of the rabbits as Pancham explained to Sylveon that no, it wasn't the fact of choosing a date to cheat that was the problem.
Ash rubbed his exhausted face. Serena hadn't had a good idea when she showed them her favourite movies. Well, the shapeshifter hadn't necessarily had a bad time watching Coup de foudre Under Thunderbolt or Love and Battles, but it seemed that all those stories didn't have a very good influence on the team. Proof of this was the brand-new tape that Plusle and Minun had brought with them to celebrate their release from the hospital. The gesture was commendable, but Ash had a bad feeling about Holiday Lovely Kiss, and Serena hadn't been any more enthusiastic than he was, and he didn't think his friend would be too keen on a film night with him after what had happened.
"Am I doing enough pokemon?" he asked.
"Average," Delphox detailed from head to toe.
"I mean, do I do enough pokemon? For example, the fact that I cook might be a bit..."
"Not average," the fox squeaked.
Even without trying to disguise himself as a perfect pokemon, he should at least have realised that certain things would give him away. Argh! To think that he had only just begun to understand the trick.
"I think... I'm going to take a break," he squeaked.
"To all the legendary powers, thank you!" said Minun, raising his paws to the sky.
"She was supposed to show me the yoghurt cake this week..." he remembered, grimacing in disappointment.
"A thousand thanks!" cried the blue rabbit, on the verge of tears.
Ash lowered his head, if only he'd realised before Serena had second thoughts.
"It's for the best," Plusle comforted him, patting his calf sympathetically. "Because after all..."
"Pokemons don't cook, I know."
"Er, no, they don't cook as badly especially!" vexed Plusle. "For example, we can smell the difference between sugar and salt."
"Not to mention we dose the flames when cooking, we hang out the laundry without dropping or burning it, and the plates we're entrusted with don't break every second time," Delphox went on, rubbing his claws across his chest.
"One out of three! One out of three!"
"Oh yeah?"
"On a good day."
"Which are..."
"When... Well... They must have existed."
"Will exist someday, perhaps."
"Ah..."
Ash had curled up in the corner of the room, tracing little circles on the lino with his claw.
"He took it badly," Pancham remarked.
"It seems to have become important to him," she said reassuringly. "Come on, it's OK to lack a little dexterity, it must just be because you're..."
"A Charizard?"
"We'll say that."
"The truth, Delphox," he pleaded.
"Well... the difference between sugar and salt."
"Aaaaah!"
"Was that supposed to cheer him up?" the panda asked.
Delphox tugged at her fur as the reptile seemed to mope even more.
"B-But you're putting a lot of effort into improving yourself, and it will pay off in the end. I'm even willing to taste your cake if..."
"Shhhh!" the two rabbits shuddered, making big arm gestures to remind her not to make promises like that, especially if it meant taking them down with her afterwards.
"That's not the point," Ash groaned. "I just wanted to understand what I could have done to make Serena doubt who I really am."
"The kiss," Plusle suggested.
"What kiss?" the fox yelped.
Pancham's ears had pricked up just as Sylveon pulled her ribbons back over her face.
"I was just tired! There was a lot going on and I wasn't thinking and..."
"What kiss?" thundered Delphox.
"I went crazy, I know! But I didn't think she'd guess that I..."
"No, that's just it, she knows you, so it should have had the opposite effect. And again, in what world, you, a kiss?!"
"A kiss..." Sylveon repeated.
"In the world where I need you to get me out of here!" he shouted. "And then someone could, I don't know, use their psychic powers to read the future and tell me what I can do!"
"A kiss..." the little voice in the background continued.
"Do you want to know?" she growled as she lifted her paws and swept her long red sleeves through the air. "The future says you're a goner, so stop twirling around, settle down and explain everything to Serena!"
"Everything?!" Ash choked.
"A kiss..."
"Sylveon!" shouted the shapeshifter, who couldn't stand it any longer. "I can't tell her everything, not in this form."
"Then become human again."
"If I could..."
"If you concentrated," the fox corrected.
"But that's exactly what I'm doing! You can see that, can't you?"
"NO!" they shouted heartily.
Ash frowned. It was true that he'd left Pikachu and Edivo to themselves for a while, but... the priority now was to help Serena.
"She's already almost given up on the Grand Festival because of my letter, so imagine what would happen if she found out who I really am."
"Two kisses?" offered Plusle.
"No!"
"Eggs?" Minun agreed.
"Even less! It's not even less, it's just impossible!"
"But..." Sylveon intervened, despite her head spinning. "Your eggs appear in such a situation, don't they?"
"No, no and no!" he flapped his wings, almost sending the two rabbits flying. "It's just not possible in this form!"
"So when you become human again..." said Delphox.
Nothing at all! In any case, he and Serena would have to love each other veeeeeeery much and... Uh... Ash widened his eyes. Well, maybe in the pyramid that included friends, pokemons and family, Serena had created a whole new category just for her. But that didn't necessarily mean... Anyway, was that really what mattered, knowing what had happened to his mother?
"Please, do you have any idea how to convince Serena that I'm a pokemon?"
"The future said..."
"The future can be changed! I've done it three or four times, so I know how it works."
"Hm..." Plusle pondered. "Perhaps if you offered your desserts like all the charizards do."
Ash froze, his scales straightening in horror.
" Their pokepuffs too?" he swallowed.
"No, you can keep those," the rabbit grinned, remembering the extra-spicy taste.
"Ah," he breathed in relief.
"Me," Pancham offered, lifting his paw.
"Yes..." Ash swallowed.
"It's more of a suggestion, actually," he clarified.
"Very well," Ash said, pleased to see the pokemon showing any sign of seriousness.
"Even something I'd call a proposal."
"That suits me perfectly, too!"
"I think we should discuss this when Serena isn't eavesdropping."
Ash raised his head abruptly and heard a snap almost immediately. He turned back to the panda, his eyes wide and his mouth struggling to articulate:
"Ah..."
"Are you going to scream?" asked Delphox as she began to lower her ears.
"No," he squeaked.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"Very good."
"Very good."
"... "
"All right. I'll scream."
Serena could only vaguely hear the fake pokemon's scream, her fingers clenching over her burning cheeks. She couldn't understand it, no, she couldn't understand it at all. Take Charizard, for example, or even Charmander, blushing for no reason, if it wasn't allergies, but... blushing? Ash blushing? But there was no reason to blush when they were cooking or chatting together!
"Huuummm-Roh!"
She opened the door a crack, just in case they had resumed their little get-together, but the pokemons had dispersed again, and Charizard (Ash?) was lying on the sofa bed, his snout in the pillow, unable to completely hide his exasperated grunt. Serena crept slowly into the room, her bare feet brushing the carpet as she took a closer look at the dragon. The scales, the claws, the flaming tail - nothing suggested that it was anything other than a Charizard. But now that he raised his head, she thought she could make out the pretty brown of his eyes...
"Char," he apologised at the same time as he raised his wings to make way for his trainer.
Serena swallowed, her heartbeat quickening. They were sleeping together, of course they were, and had been since he was a Charmander, because there was nothing wrong with sleeping with your pokemon compared to sleeping in the same bed as... Ash. Snuggled up against her, he held her in his arms, sighed against her neck and waited for her to wake up, all the better to laugh when he saw her dishevelled. No, no, NOOOO!
"Zard?"
"I'm making dinner!" she explained quickly.
"Char... Chari char," he reminded her.
"Tomorrow's breakfast then!"
Ash added nothing more, content to follow the young girl at a safe distance and watch as she pulled out all the necessary utensils. Pokemons could cook in a basic way - and unfortunately, he wasn't even close to basic - but Ash preferred to stay out of the way this time. Maybe he should just go back to the living room and pretend like a good Charizard that he wasn't interested in any of this.
"Ch..."
Serena massaged her sore shoulder. Ash slipped on his apron and grabbed one of the pots, signalling that she could give him a few thankless tasks - anything, really, as long as she didn't strain his arm.
"Thank you," she said mechanically.
The pokemon's behaviour wasn't very Charizard-like, but at the same time, she couldn't say it was entirely like Ash. A bit like on the way out of the Rusturf Tunnel, when he... No, definitely, if it was Ash, then what had happened made even less sense than she'd thought. Ah, this was going to drive her crazy!
"I don't think we should do the next contest together," she admitted.
"Zar?! Charichar, rizar?"
He had come far too close and she hurried to push his snout away with the tip of a spatula.
"How do you expect to do that?" she moaned. "I won't be able to fight without thinking that you could... if you really were him..." she stammered, her cheeks turning redder and redder. "Tell me, why FlamHeart?"
"You came up with that name!" he reminded her.
"I know, I know, but hearts, why hearts?"
Ash froze for a few seconds before stammering out:
"B-But because it's easier. Easier than stars, or flowers, or even circles. Yes, circles are terribly difficult, whereas hearts..."
"Yeah, hearts, what's so special about hearts?" she said impatiently.
"I-I don't know, it's just that it's the easiest one to come to me when I look at you and... aaaah..."
"Your scales," Serena swallowed.
"I knoooooow," he groaned.
The coordinator fiddled nervously with her dress. It was one thing for 'Charizard' to decide to learn a new technique for the contests, but for Ash to blow little hearts of fire at her... How was she supposed to take that? Especially coming from Ash, it made even less sense than if he was a Charizard!
"I don't know what to think or believe anymore," she sighed. "You're behaving too strangely for a pokemon, and even now, when I tell myself it's because you're him, there are things... there are certain things that still don't make sense."
Serena took a deep breath, her heart pounding as she continued:
"I would believe you. I'll believe you whether you're Charizard or Ash, but to do that you have to tell me who you really are.
Ash lowered his head and awkwardly went back to cooking. The young girl felt her lip quiver, not understanding why he was so stubbornly silent.
"Very well then, I think we can definitely abandon the idea of teaming up for the competition."
"Zar..."
"The judges also evaluate the trust that exists between a pokemon and its coordinator, and I don't think we're very good at that."
Serena took a few steps back as he crouched down to rummage through the drawers.
"Okay, fine, since you leave me no choice," he breathed.
"What are you..."
"Macaroons!"
"What... Don't do that! It's way too complicated for you and... And don't try to change the subject! You always have to say..."
"But you love them, they're even your favourite dessert."
Serena stared wide-eyed at her dragon, surprised that he had guessed so well. She didn't think she'd mentioned it to him, and yes, maybe she lingered a little longer in front of the rare Hoenn shop windows that had them, but it was a detail, just a detail, and anyway he hadn't answered her question yet and...
"Ash, he didn't know that."
Even now that he was in the stands (not in the dressing room, but behind the back row of the audience), Ash still had no idea what he should have said or done to get her to accept his help - and the macaroons hadn't worked in his favour, although they had managed the feat of breaking the fourth degree.
The shapeshifter took a deep breath. It was bad enough that she was taking part just a few days after her period of convalescence, but if he couldn't make sure that she was perfectly well, as she had liked to repeat. Although perhaps the biggest shock for her hadn't been the infection...
"Char," he sighed as he crouched down, exhausted that he still hadn't figured out what to do to look more like a Charizard.
Start a fire? Charizards like to start fires and... He slapped his forehead. Where had he come up with such a plan when the simplest thing, as Delphox so rightly said, would be to reveal everything here and now. That way, Serena would panic and then promise to do everything she could to help him become human again, even if it meant losing her place at the Grand Festival.
"Rrra!" he groaned.
In a pinch, with a bit of luck, he could convince her that he'd manage with Edivo - just to make her think that he was taking the search for his body very seriously - while she finished the contests, and then she'd join them. And it didn't matter if they were separated for a while, after all, why would Team Aqua wait until that moment to...
"RRRRAAAA!"
Anyway, he knew very well that if he wasn't with her anymore, he'd just worry and get nowhere. Ash wrapped his wings around himself, in fact he wouldn't just worry, he'd be depressed because... He just couldn't see himself getting up and not seeing her, not having breakfast with her, talking to her, hearing her laugh, seeing her smile or sometimes sulk and of course she still had to show him that famous yoghurt cake recipe that she said was simply unmissable, although her voice had quivered slightly as she said it, but she still seemed to trust him.
A Coordinator and his pokemon are supposed to trust each other.
It had been so strange, the way she'd looked at him, as if she thought he was lying to her. And no, hiding what was under the mask wasn't really a lie, it was more of a safety net so that he wouldn't lie to her when he said he'd stay with her, even if she said... Ash stroked the tip of his snout, his cheeks, thinking back to the pokeball that could very well have changed him: the trainer, his feelings, his actions, his dreams, and yet it seemed to him now to be a protection, a guarantee of something that he increasingly wanted to achieve, to become, and that meant that the Ash under those scales would have to stay away a little longer.
The false pokemon swallowed. Serena appeared on stage, and it was strange to see her from so far away, to barely make out the contours of her dress, to guess more than see the movements she made. He walked down the stairs, no more than two steps, but just enough to get a better look at her and notice that the coordinator wasn't quite up to what she was doing.
"That's not good," he heard someone whisper.
He snapped his tail and whistled. It was mainly that Serena had recently taken a menin-thingy and... She also had to think about a Charizard who wasn't really a Charizard, and who was probably supposed to keep a low profile. Like cross his arms, sit down and...
"As if..." he growled. "SERENA! Serena, you can do it! Se-re-na! Se-re-na! SE-RE-NA!"
He turned the heads of half the audience and even made some of them stand up, but that was all it took for the most important person to hear him. I'm going to regret this, I'm going to regret this so much, he cried silently, not giving the slightest thought to the 'ridiculous in front of a hundred people' part of that famous regret.
Serena froze, her hand clenched over her heart as her pokemon clearly embarrassed her, or Ash. And while the boy had never hidden his support when they travelled to Kalos, he had never so much as... Enough! she decided to continue her performance. She may have been completely lost, not knowing if she could still believe in this pokemon (if it really was one), but one thing was certain: right now, all she wanted to do was respond to whoever was encouraging her.
Author's notes : At first I was a little disappointed that Serena realised that Ash and Charizard could be the same person right at the beginning of the chapter. I would have preferred to end a chapter to keep you on the edge of your seat, but I didn't really have anything to keep you waiting any longer. Then I was told that it was possible to do a very short chapter if I really wanted to have a cliffhanger, but I realised that this kind of chapter is more outside the narrative: it's often in the form of extracts from newspapers or TV news bulletins and... although I didn't keep the idea of the mini-chapter in the end, I did use it to give you this mini-paragraph that suddenly steps out of the narrative, and I personally really like the effect it gives ^^.
I'm also very happy with this little bit where Serena's whole team is messing around with poor Ash. I think it keeps the focus on what's important (Ash/Serena) and makes the team come alive at the same time.
Well, the bad news is that I haven't managed to write in the last few weeks, because the days are busy and when I get home I'm too tired to write a chapter (and I really need my hours of sleep during the week, so it's hard to get going when you know you have to stop in less than an hour ^^'). So I think it won't be long before I take another break.
Ah, of course, there's still the denouement of the 'There's a lot of people screaming in hospital: people with dementia, people with urine retention, young girls who realise their Charizard isn't quite so Charizard' part xp.