The Ketchum Family

Butting Heads and Breaking Hearts: Part 2

This is a direct continuation of part 1. If you haven't read part 1, please do so, otherwise some things in here won't make sense.

As always thanks for reading. If you have a comment, don't hesitate to leave it.

The alarm in Ash's room rang and he groggily rolled over in bed to shut it off. He hadn't gotten anywhere near enough sleep. He'd been unable to fall asleep until well after midnight, as his mind had been constantly replaying Serena's disturbing words and actions. He was worried what today could bring, and dreaded getting out of bed.

He heard Pikachu stir in his small bed on the floor, nearby. A moment later, the Pokémon sat straight up, looking attentive.

"PI-" Pikachu said curiously.

Ash shifted in bed so he could look down at his buddy. "Something up Pikachu?" he said.

Pikachu's ears twitched and the electric mouse quickly jumped up on Ash's bed. "PIKA-PIKA" he cried out, pointing toward the open door of Ash's room.

Ash had a puzzled expression on his face. He turned toward the door and focused his attention in that direction. For a moment he heard nothing, but then there was a faint clinking sound of metal contacting metal. Ash thought it odd; had one of the Pokémon gotten into something?

He rose from the bed and quickly changed into his standard clothes. With Pikachu just behind him, Ash descended the stairs; listening to the clinking sound coming from downstairs. As he reached the ground floor, he began to smell food being cooked, and he suddenly realized what was going on. When he stepped into the kitchen, his suspicions were confirmed. Serena had arrived at the reserve early and was preparing breakfast.

Ash felt apprehensive. With the way Serena had behaved last night, what was he in for this morning? Ash swallowed a lump in his throat, stepped forward and called out a friendly greeting.

"Hey, Serena. You're here early."

Serena quickly turned her head toward him, slightly surprised by his arrival. "Oh Ash!" she started. "You're awake. I didn't hear you."

Ash nodded and took a few steps forward. "Already cooking breakfast, huh?"

"Mmm-Hmm," Serena hummed. "I woke up early this morning and decided that I might as well come here."

Ash stopped a few paces away from Serena. He wasn't sure what to say. He felt like he needed to address some of the things from last night, but this didn't feel like the time. Maybe later, while they were eating?

Silence reigned for a minute while Serena worked with the food. She seemed to be preoccupied and kept getting a distant look in her eye. Finally she spoke, her tone a little hesitant.

"Hey, Ash," she began. "I wanted to apologize a little for last night."

Upon hearing this, Ash became laser focused. Maybe Serena had rethought some of what she'd said last night? Maybe some of the words had been spoken in the heat of the moment and weren't how she truly felt?

"Okay," Ash replied. "What about?"

"Well," Serena smiled sheepishly. "With everything we were talking about last night, I got a little excited, and I might have been a little more forward than I should have been."

Ash immediately felt a big weight start to lift off of him. "Really," he said, sounding pleasantly surprised.

Serena nodded. "Yeah," she said with a half shrug. "I know you probably didn't mind, but I just wanted to say that I uh....." she paused a moment and grinned ironically while shaking her head. "I'll try not to get that excited in the future."