Delia: Boys!!! It's 6 am and your friends will be here in a hour!
Ash & Gary: Right!
Ash slowly got out of bed while carefully waking Pikachu up, not wanting to get shocked and they made their way downstairs, knowing that Gary would be first in the bathroom.
It is now monday, the day of Ash and Gary's first World League gym battle. Their friends would arrive at 7 am so they can travel together towards Santalune city.
"Morning Mom!" Ash said as he and Pikachu sat down on a chair at the dining table.
Delia: Morning Ash! Breakfast is almost ready.
Ash: Great!
Delia: Are you ready for today's battle?
Ash: You bet! I've made my mind up on which strategies and pokemon I wanna use!
Delia: What pokemon are you gonna use?
"I can't tell you, I want to keep it a secret so I won't reveal anything of my plans." Ash said as he crossed his arms infront of his chest. "But if you really want to know, Ask Bulbasaur to fetch all the Pokemon and you'll find out who's missing."
Gary just came down the stairs as he heard the last part of their conversation. Ash finished his breakfast quickly and went into the bathroom. When he finished, put fresh clothes on and brushed his teeth. When he was done he came back down again.
Ash: Great! All done and they will be here in 15 minutes!
Gary: Yeah, I'm glad I'm battling for a tournament once again! I've missed that feeling.
Ash: I hope for you, you still got it. You should be pretty rusty by now.
Gary: Not at all Ash, I've trained with Brock during the weekend and I think I'm ready!
Ash: We'll see Gary, all gym leaders we're facing are the best of the best right now. They ain't pushovers!
Gary: Yeah yeah... Wait until you see me battle!
Suddenly they hear the doorbell ring.
Gary: They're early? We've still got 15 minutes!
"Don't worry, I've got it!" Ash said as he walked towards the door.
As he opened it he got tackled to the floor by a happy Serena who was hugging him tightly.
Serena: Morning Ash!
"M-Morning S-Serena" Ash said, recovering from the fall.
"What's going on here?" Gary asked as he heard something fall. "Oh uh... Hi Serena"
"Hi Gary" Serena said as she and Ash quickly stood up again.
Gary: I think someone was happy to see you Ash...
"Yeah... Same goes for me" Ash said as he looked at Serena, both exchanging a smile.
Gary: Did I miss something?
Serena: Not much except we're a couple now...
Gary bursted out in laughter, confusing Ash and Serena in the process.
Ash: What's so funny Gary?
Gary: You a girlfriend? You're so dense, you couldn't even tell the difference between loving someone and loving food! Besides, you wouldn't get one before me anyway.
"Well... You're wrong" Ash said as he looked back at Serena again who nodded.
They both leaned in and gave eachother a kiss, long enough that Gary could realise it was actually true.
When they broke the kiss, Ash asked "Do you believe it now?"
"Y-Y-Yeah..." Gary muttered as he sweat dropped.
Serena: Good!
Ash: You're pretty early Serena, the others will arrive here in around 15-30 minutes.
Serena: Yeah but I wanted to be with you before the others will come here.
Ash: Gary and I just finished up! We actually wanted to go to them now, do you know where they meet up?
Serena: Yeah, on the outskirts of Vaniville town, just a little bit away from here.
"Great! Let's go then!" Ash said while doing a fist bump in the air.
Gary: Right Ash! Let's win that gym badge!
"Yeah!" Serena said as she also did a fist bump, mimicking Ash, causing him to chuckle.
Ash: We're going mom! See you later!
Delia: Right Ash! Take care guys!
Serena: We will!
They waved goodbye to Delia and walked out of the house. The group of five made their way towards their friends. Pikachu was on Ash's shoulder while Serena and Ash held eachothers hands with their fingers intertwined.
Gary and Lucario walked beside them and while talking they made their way towards the outskirts of Vaniville town.
When they got there, Dawn, Shauna, Brock and Misty were already waiting there.
Serena: Hi guys!
Misty: Huh? Ash, Gary and Serena? I thought we agreed on meeting you at Ash's place?
Ash: Yeah but we were ready pretty early so we thought we'd meet you guys here!
Brock: Thats great, only May is still missing before we can head off!
"You don't have to wait anymore! I'm here" they heard a voice shouting.
They looked into the direction where it came from and saw May with someone next to her.
Ash: Max!?
Max: Hi Ash! It's been so long!
Ash: It sure has! But what are you doing here in Kalos? You are competing for thr Hoenn league right?
Max: Yeah, the Hoenn league starts in 2 years from now. The Kalos League is coming up in 1 year so I asked May if I could come over and travel through Kalos first. Then May told me you've got a gym battle and I definetly want to see that!
Ash chuckled a bit hearing Max's explaination and replied with "That's right! I'm going for my first World League gym badge!"
Max: The World League!? Isn't that the hardest league in the world?
Ash: Yeah, me and Gary are gonna compete and when I win it all, I'll challenge the champions!
Gary: We can catchup while we walk towards Santalune city guys! We need to go now!
Ash: Oh right...
Shauna giggled as she said "we've got enough time Gary." Then she noticed Serena and asked "Serena! How did your date with Ash go?"
Both Ash and Serena blushed a bit because all eyes were focussed on them now.
"W-W-Well.... Y-You see..." Serena stuttered.
Misty: Are you alright Serena?
Serena: Y-Yeah...
Serena looked at Ash who nodded with a smile on his face which gave her some confidence as she smiled back.
Serena: I-It was great!
May: Tell us please!
Ash smiled at Serena who was facing him and then they both leaned in, kissing eachother which shocked all of them except for Gary, Pikachu and Lucario.
As they broke the kiss, Ash said "Serena is now my girlfriend!" While Serena hugged his arm.
Dawn, May and Shauna squealed after hearing that while Misty, Brock and Max tried to stay calm which was difficult for Brock.
Brock: H-How A-Ash...?
Misty: So you finally broke out of that dense shell of yours...
"I guess... But I'm glad it happened to be Serena who made me realise it!" Ash said as he smiled at Serena.
May, Dawn and Shauna bombarded Serena with questions on how and when it happened and she was more than happy to answer them.
"How did it happen?" The girls asked in unison.
Serena: We went to The Spritzy for our date. It was so beautiful in there, you wouldn't believe your eyes! But after finishing our dinner, Ash asked me to dance... I was quite nervous but he gave me that smile which made me forget about all of it.
Misty: Continue!
Serena: Right, so after that we went back home and I got cold because I forgot to take a jacket with me, Ash gave me his jacket and we went to Ash's house first to get my pokemon including Pikachu and Lucario. But what suprised me the most was that Ash and his pokemon planned a fireworks display for us!
"Yeah, I can't believe that paid off that well" Ash said as he scratched the back of his head, a bit embarrassed.
Serena: While watching the fireworks I tried to build up as much confidence as I could to confess but Ash beat me to it. That was the best moment of my life!
"Same here!" Ash said as they exchanged another kiss and a smile.
Dawn: NO WAY! You confessed first Ash?
Ash: Yeah! And I'm glad I did!
Brock: Anyway, congratulations you two!
Dawn: Yeah, congratulations!
May/Misty/Max/Shauna: Congrats guys!
Ash & Serena: Thanks everyone!
Gary: Shall we get going now?
Ash: Yeah!
They continued talking while they made their way to Santalune City. Serena had her arms wrapped around Ash's arm while their fingers intertwined and she leaned her head on his shoulder.
Gary and Shauna walked more close to eachother aswell which Serena noticed but she decided not to talk about it. After a little while they finally arrived at Santalune city.
Ash: We made it pretty quickly! I can't wait for the battle!
Gary: Me neither! I'm going to show you how you earn that badge!
Ash: Nope! I'm going to show you how it's done!
Serena and Shauna giggled as they saw Ash and Gary argue like that.
"They haven't changed one bit, have they?" Brock asked.
"Not from what we used to deal with Brock!" Misty said chuckling.
May: Even though he became a couple years older since we traveled with him, he's still the same old Ash!
Dawn: Yeah, I get what you mean.
Max: He may act like kid but I sure learned a lot from him!
"We know you admire him as your idol Max!" May said while ruffling his hair with her hand.
"Hey! Cut it out May!" Max said frustrated.
Brock: You've chosen a good teacher Max, he's very good at coming up with strategies on the spot.
Misty: Yeah but one thing's for sure! He's reckless!
"Hey! I heard that!" Ash said while turning his attention to the rest of the group, earning him a few laughs.
Gary: Anyway let's go to the gym!
Max: Yeah! I can't wait to battle for my first badge here! Kalos League, here I come!
The group smiled at the excitement of the youngest member of their group.
They walked towards the entrance of the gym and entered. When they did, they saw there was already a battle going on. To Ash and Serena's suprise, they knew who was battling.
Bonnie: Fennekin! Use ember now!
Viola: Vivillon, Dodge and use psychic!
Fennekin started running and leaped up, then it released small balls of fire and shot them towards Vivillon.
Vivillon dodged the attack with ease and then it's eyes started to glow blue, Fennekin's body started to glow blue aswell as Vivillon had the small fox pokemon in it's grip.
"Fennekin no!" Bonnie said as she started to panic.
"STAY CALM! FENNEKIN CAN STILL USE IT'S MOUTH!" Ash shouted which caused Bonnie and Viola look in Ash's direction, just like everyone in the gym.
Bonnie quickly focussed back on the battle as she gave her next command "Fennekin use ember again!"
Fennekin opened her mouth and shot another couple of fire balls at it's opponent. As it was flying towards it's opponent, the balls of fire merged into a streak of fire.
The attack hit Vivillon who fell to the ground by the super effective fire type attack. As it was falling, the blue energy around Fennekin dissapeared.
Serena: That's flamethrower!
Bonnie: Great Fennekin! Now finish it off with another flamethrower!
Fennekin: Fenn!
Fennekin leaped up again and fired another streak of flames towards Vivillon who was struggling to get up.
"Dodge it Vivillion!" Viola pleaded her loyal partner but it was no use as flamethrower hit right on target, creating a smokecloud.
After a couple seconds the cloud faded away, revealing Vivillon with swirls in it's eyes on the ground.
Referee: Vivillon is unable to battle which means the winner of this gym battle is Bonnie from Lumiose City!
"Yeeeyy Dedenne! We won!" Bonnie shouted as she hugged her little antenna pokemon who was also happy with result for all the effort they put in.
"Congratulations Bonnie!" Ash said as he madd his way over to her, together with their traveling group.
Bonnie: Thanks Ash... Wait!? Ash and Serena!? What are you doing here!?
Serena: We're here for Max, Gary and Ash's gym battles!
Ash: Right! Me and Gary are going to challenge for the World League!
Max: And I want to compete in the Kalos League!
Max and Bonnie stared at eachother for a moment which May noticed.
"Guys look! I think my little brother has fallen in love!" May said, trying to tease Max.
Max: What!? May shut up!
Both Max and Bonnie blushed at May's statement and at that moment Viola came walking over.
Viola: Hi Ash and Serena! It has been a while since I saw you two for the last time. I see you're also doing well Pikachu! And I also see you made a new friend?
"Pika!" Pikachu said with a happy smile on his face.
Serena: Yeah! Thanks to that Ash and I reunited back then.
Ash: Yeah! And it was my first step to compete in the Kalos League! And I got Lucario when it was still a Riolu on my way back home from Alola. Long story though, I'll tell you all later alright?
Viola: Right! But first, Bonnie?
Viola turned herself towards Bonnie who looked at her as she said "May I present you with the Bug Badge! It's yours for putting up an amazing fight."
Bonnie slowly reached towards Viola's hand and grabbed the badge. This was her first ever gym badge she won and her first step towards the Kalos League.
"I've won the Bug Badge!" Bonnie shouted as she held it up high in her hand while posing.
Ash: Hey! That's my pose!
They all started laughing until Bonnie noticed Ash and Serena holding hands.
Bonnie decided to tease as she said "So Serena... Do you like holding Ash's hand?"
Serena wasn't faced which confused Bonnie.
"Nice try to tease me Bonnie but what you don't know is that me and Ash are a couple now" Serena said while leaving the younger Lumiose sibling completely shocked.
"N-No w-way..." were the only words Bonnie could get out of her mouth.
"Congratulations you two! It was about time" Viola said which earned her smiles from Ash and Serena.
Ash: Thanks Viola!
Bonnie: H-How? H-How did you become a couple without my help?
Serena: Simple! We went on a date 2 days ago and we both confessed after.
Ash: Right!
While they had their conversation, Max couldn't hold his excitement anymore.
Max: HEY!
Everyone looked at Max who got crimson red. He didn't mean to shout.
May: What is it Max?
Max: Well... Sorry for shouting but I wanted to challenge you for a gym battle Viola...
Viola: As a gym leader it is my duty to accept every challenge but currently as you can see, my pokemon are all tired from the battle against Bonnie. How about we do it tomorrow?
"B-But..." Max said as he looked down, dissapointed.
"Don't worry Max! You've got some more time to think of a strategie now! Ash said as he put his hand in the young trainers shoulder.
Max: Yeah... But I really wanted to battle...
Ash: How about this? After my gym battle, what do you think of having the battle I promised you?
Max looked up at Ash with stars in his eyes. "Really!? But what about your pokemon? Aren't they tired then?
Ash: Don't worry, It's a 4 on 4 and I've got 6 Pokemon with me!
Max: Thanks Ash! But prepare to lose because I'm not going easy on you!
Ash chuckled as he said "I wouldn't have it any other way!"
The rest of the group smiled at Ash's gesture towards Max. It was his dream for years now to battle his idol and he finally got his chance.
Gary: Anyway... Our gym battle... Are we supposed to battle you Viola?
Viola: Huh? Me? No! Come with me, I'll bring you to the battlefield where the gym leader is waiting for you.
They all followed Viola out of the gym and made their way to a small sized arena which could hold up to around 3000 people. Bonnie also joined as she was interested to see the battle as well as seeing her old friends again.
Viola: This is where you're gonna battle!
Gary: Great! But if you're not the gym leader we need to battle, then where is he?
???: Right here!
Two doors at the gym leaders side if the battlefield opened. A shadow of a tall man was revealed as a freezing cold came from around him, blowing the gang in their faces which caused them to shiver.
_______________________________________
Chapter 41! I hope you like Max and Bonnie return in this chapter! I thought it would be a good way to introduce the promised battle between Ash and Max.
Let me know if you want old friends/rivals to return more frequently!
Anyway I hope you enjoyed the chapter and I see you in the next! It will be a good one and I'm excited to write it!