After finishing breakfast, Ash called out all of his Pokémon from their Pokéballs to explain that they were having the day off.
"You guys have really been working hard lately, so I figured you deserve a rest." Ash had told his Pokémon. They had been surprised yet generally happy with their trainers decision to allow them some time off. They had quickly began playing various games. Even Hawlucha, the 'lone wolf' of the group decided to join in with the fun for once.
Ash watched them from underneath the tree where he was taking cover from the sun. He smiled, and continued polishing his equipment; Pokéballs, and his Gym Badges.
"Okay Fennekin." Ash heard Serena, and saw her not far away, just behind the tree he was resting under, with her Fennekin and Pancham. "We did really well for our debut performance, and you two were great!"
Her Pokémon beamed at the praise they were being showered with. Serena and her Pokémon never really trained in the same way Ash and his Pokémon had done, and they hadn't ever received compliments the way they were now.
Ash smiled again. He remembered her performance. She had really worked hard, and practiced and practiced over and over for it, and it had paid off. She had been generally well received, exceptionally so for her first performance.
He himself had been utterly captivated by the performance. To start with, the dress she wore and how she had done her hair made her look absolutely incredible, and what made her look even more amazing was the fact she hasn't used any make-up whatsoever. Ash had found himself focused completely in Serena and her performance. He had noticed her smile. Such a sweet smile. It wasn't her normal smile, but the one that showed she was loving what she was doing, that she enjoyed the work she was doing. Ash didn't think he had seen her so happy. Seeing Serena happy made him happy as well.
"So, I'd like to practice a few new things for the next performance we have." She told her Pokémon. Pancham in particular seemed happy with that. After all, it did love to perform.
"Urm, actually, a lot of what I had planned mainly involved Fennekin, Pancham..." Serena told her first capture. Pancham looked absolutely crushed before Serena said with a smile "Don't worry, I have something very special planned for your performance!"
Pancham's spirits were raised against after that. "Maybe you should relax for a bit while I try what I had planned with Fennekin." Serena suggested.
Pancham nodded and jogged off to the side, where it planned to sit down against the tree Ash was currently resting against. Once Pancham sat down, Ash spoke, "Oh, hey, Pancham, I thought you'd be performing right about now?"
Pancham gestured over to Serena and Fennekin, as Serena told Fennekin her ideas. "Pan Pancham."
"Oh, I see. This one is mainly for Fennekin?" Ash asked. Pancham nodded, but still looked trademarkingly confident. Ash decided to take another guess. "And I'm guessing she has something planned for you too?"
Again, Pancham nodded. "Pancham!"
"You really have an incredible trainer, you know that?"
"Pancham?"
As if on cue, the embers that Fennekin had been firing into the sky as part of the performance came crashing back down to earth, narrowly missing Serena and Fennekin, who had to frantically dodge the falling fireballs.
"You alright, Serena?" Ash called over.
Serena picked herself up, brushed off the dirt on her clothes, and waved back. "Yeah... Just... Just had a little mishap, that's all."
Ash laughed. "You know, Pokémon performances remind me a lot of Pokémon contest performance rounds."
"Pokémon contests?" Serena asked, with a quizzical look in her face.
"It's something similar to Pokémon Performances in the Hoenn and Sinnon regions. They had an appeal and battle round. The Pokémon Performances remind me of the appeals round of a contest." Ash explained.
"Did you see take part in one?" Serena asked.
"I took part in a few, but it wasn't particularly my scene." Ash shrugged. "I can help you if you like."
Ash wasn't sure, but he thought he saw a slight blush in Serena's face. "A-Are you sure?"
"Sure I'm sure." Ash smiled. "Hey, Pikachu, come over here for a second buddy!"
Pikachu responded fairly quickly to his trainers calls, jumping down from a tree and running over to Ash.
"Hey, Pikachu, you mind if I use you to show Serena the contest moves we used those few times back in Hoenn and Sinnoh?" Ash asked. He was responded with a nod and a smile.
"You remember the Thunderbolt rings?"
"Pika!"
"Alright then. Serena, watch this."
Serena say down with Fennekin and watched. It was weird to see Ash about to do some sort of performance, as opposed to battle training.
What Serena saw impressed her even more. With a combination of Thunderbolt and Iron Tail, Pikachu had created several electrical rings spinning and crashing into into other.
"That's about it. Thanks, buddy." Ash smiled. Pikachu returned the smile, before running of back to join in with the games.
"Wow..." Was all Serena could manage.
"Not my forte..." Ash chuckled, scratching the back of his head. "But I guess it impressed the judges..."
"I didn't know you could do that sort of thing." Serena said, complimenting Ash.
"Ah hah..." Ash laughed.
"Well, master performer, what do you recommend I do?" Serena said, teasingly.
Ash felt something. He could have sworn that she was being flirty with him. He shook off the thought. "Uh, Fennekin knows how to use Hidden Power, right? Try using that into the air."
Serena nodded. "Okay Fennekin, you heard him, Hidden Power, and aim for the sky!"
Fennekin nodded, before firing the move In to the air... Before it came crashing down. Like before, Ash, Serena, and Fennekin had to frantically dodge the falling attacks.
One of the Hidden Powers was rapidly falling towards Serena, who was looking in the opposite direction. "Serena, watch out!"
Ash ran and grabbed Serena, pulling her out of the way of the falling move before it hit the ground, pushing Serena to the ground next to him.
Both of them were left without breath. " I can see... Why that... Isn't your forte..." Serena gasped.
"I'm so sorry..." Ash said, between gasps. "That wasn't... My smartest idea..."
Ash and Serena picked themselves up. It was then that Ash realized how close they actually were right now. Maybe a few centimeters away at most. Ash blushed.
"U-Um... W-What about Flamethrower?" He quickly suggested.
"Flamethrower?"
"Yeah... For one thing, we won't have to dodge any falling moves."
So Serena tried that. And that went better. For a while, Ash and Serena kept brainstorming ideas. Serena's original idea had been to have a ring of Ember surround her and Fennekin, they perform their routine, and Fennekin ended it with a Hidden Power. Though, remembering the performance failure that had occurred barely 10 minutes ago, she decided that she wasn't ready for that yet. She would have to practice more for it.
During their brainstorming, Serena suddenly realized something. "Aren't you supposed to be taking the day off?"
Ash stopped and seriously thought for a minute. He was, wasn't he? Then again, he really wanted to see Serena do well. So he replied with a smile, saying "I am. I said I was having a day off training, I never said I was going to lay around all day."
Ash titled his head slightly, so his hat covered his eyes. He was blushing lightly right now, and he didn't want Serena to know it. He looked at her with closed eyes and a smile. "Besides, I really want to see you do well, and I'll help you out so I can see your smile when you perform!"