With Ash
Ash had made his way to the entrance gate of the battlefield. He had given all his Pokemon to Nurse Joy on the way to the gate so she could heal them. Ash was replaying the battle in his head, thinking about the mistakes he had made so he could improve on them. He was deep in thought, when suddenly, he was snapped out of it by someone yelling from behind him.
"Ashy-boy!! That was some battle!"
Ash knew exactly who it was. After all, there was only one person who calls him that... Gary Oak. Ash sighed but replied without turning around.
"I've told you hundreds of times not to call me that... Gare-Bear!" Ash replied chuckling at the nickname he made up for Gary. As soon as he replied though, he heard a crowd of laughter behind him.
Ash turned around and an ear-to-ear grin broke out on his face. There stood all of his past travelling companions along with friends he made along the way. He was surprised to see Serena there as he thought she would be with Calem right now, but that that didn't bother him right now. What did catch his attention though, was the angered, almost flustered expression on Gary's face. Gary was the centre of attention of his group of friends as they found the nickname humorous. Gary immediately melted in the moment though and soon broke out in laughter along with everybody else.
Eventually everybody calmed down.
"So Ash, those were some amazing Pokemon out there. I'm especially impressed by your Greninja!" Misty stated.
"Thanks Misty... though I best you're only saying that because he is a water type." replied Ash while giving a knowing grin. Misty just grinned back and nodded her head while Ash chuckled.
This continued. All of Ash's friends started talking to him. May showed Ash the half ribbon that she still carried with her. To her surprise, Ash had the ribbon with him too. Dawn, on the other hand, held her hand up above her head with the palm facing Ash. Ash realised what that was and joined his palm with hers as they hi-fived.
Iris watched the two and continued to saw "You two are such kids!"
Dawn giggled while Ash scratched the back of his head chuckling nervously.
"Same old Iris I see." said Ash. Iris just smiled back.
Ash then set about meeting the guys. Gary and Ash still had their half of the pokeball they found as kids. Kenny and Barry had stars in their eyes as they asked Ash to teach them everything about his battling style and training methods.
Ash then locked eyes with Paul. Dawn was quite nervous about this as she had first-hand experience of the rivalry between these two. Ash started by smiling at Paul.
"How are you Paul?" asked Ash.
To everyone's surprise, Paul smiled back and replied.
"I'm doing great Ash, how abut you?"
Everybody was stunned. Paul rarely smiles... and he rarely talks to people with a nice voice. Ash, however, soon responded.
"I'm great too Paul." as they shook hands.
Ash then continued to greet Cilan and Clemont as they discussed Clemont's inventions. Their conversation was shortly interrupted.
"Alola!"
Ash flicked his head quickly to the direction of the voice. Ash couldn't believe his eves as he saw Mallow standing there, smiling brightly at him. Ash's couldn't help but smile back at her.
"Mallow? You're here too?" asked as surprised, but happy Ash. Mallow nodded as a reply.
"Guys, this is Mallow. She is a very good friend of mine from the Alola region." said Ash as he introduced Mallow to everybody.
"We know, we met her during your battle." replied Gary.
"Ah, I see. I think you will fit in quite well with the group Mallow!" said Ash. Mallow smiled and nodded.
Serena watched from the side. She had a slightly worried and upset face as she watched Ash converse with his former travelling companions. It seemed like they all know Ash really well and although she hated admitting it, she was jealous. To Serena, Ash seemed like an amazing person. She had never seen anyone like Ash before. She wanted to get to know Ash better than anybody else. She watched as Ash smiled and laughed while interacting with all his friends.
"So, tell me Ash, how did you become so strong? It was not too long ago that you lost in the Kalos League." stated Clemont.
"Well, I trained really hard while I was in Alola. I spent most of my years there travelling by myself and challenging very strong opponents while trying to understand my Pokemon. Alola is no joke either. It is full of some of the strongest trainers I have ever seen and I think that going to Alola has been one of the best decisions I have ever made." replied Ash.
"Alola does have leagues right? did you challenge the league there?" asked Dawn
"Well, when I first arrived in Alola, it didn't have a league. I spent my first year in Alola attending school, studying about Pokemon types, advantages, abilities etc. That's where I met Mallow. The teacher was Prof. Kukui. Prof. Kukui is the professor of the Alola region... sort of like what Prof. Oak is to Kanto and Prof. Sycamore is to Kalos. I used to train with my Pokemon everyday after school. Naturally, but the end of the school year, my Pokemon were very strong. I then decided to go on a journey. About 4 months after I started my journey, Prof. Kukui called me and asked me to come back to the school for an important meeting. When I got there, I was surprised to see Charles Goodshow there."
Ash was cut off by Barry. "Charles Goodshow!? You mean the President of the Pokemon League!?"
Ash replied to Barry's sudden interruption.
"Yeah, that Charles Goodshow, Barry. I have met him before in Kanto, Johto, Hoenn and Sinnoh. Turns out he wanted to set up a Pokemon League in Alola with the help of me and Prof. Kukui. Within a month's time, we had picked the 16 gyms and gym leaders and they were officially declared open. You only needed 8 badges to enter the league, however, we thought having 16 gyms would give the trainers a choice and it would also give the gym leaders some time to rest. I started challenging them, although I have to admit, travelling by yourself makes you feel quite lonely. I still had my Pokemon but human company was something I missed. Eventually though, I ended up collecting all 8 badges and got to enter the league." Ash stopped right there as he didn't want anybody to know that he was the Alolan Champion. He wanted to be treated normally. Mallow, however, had a different idea.
"Continue Ash, tell them what happened in the League." said Mallow.
As soon as Mallow said that, Ash started feeling uncomfortable. All of Ash friends noticed this and guessed that Ash must have lost quite badly. After all, Ash never hesitated in mentioning his league position.
Ash too thought about it a little. After all, these were Ash friends. Apart from Serena, Ash knew everybody else pretty well and knew that they were nice people that he could trust. Ash was contemplation on whether or not to continue with his story when Gary suddenly spoke up.
"It's OK man. If you don't want to talk about it, we won't force you to."
this bought a smile to Ash's face. That statement showed that Gary cared about Ash... and so did all of his other friends... and Ash knew that. He made his decision and started speaking up again.
"Well, in Alola, the leagues take place every 6 months. The islands are small and the Gyms are relatively close to each other so travelling doesn't take a lot of time and people often collect all 8 badges in 3-4 months. I entered the very first league. There were hundreds of people who entered along with me. The battles were very difficult. Each battle a lot harder than the previous one but I eventually ended up in the final. My opponent in the Final was a very strong trainer from Kanto. He rarely spoke but said his name was Red and he had trained in Mt. Silver for a very long time and he had very strong Pokemon... and he wasn't lying. He was down to his final Pokemon while I still had three. His Snorlax was quite annoying as it kept using rest. I didn't have any Pokemon that knew fighting type moves so I was at a disadvantage. I thought I would lose in the final again. That was until this little guy on my shoulder did his magic." Ash said pointing to Pikachu on his shoulder.
"Piiikaa!" a slightly embarrassed Pikachu replied scratching the hack of his head.
Serena giggle at the sight and though 'Just like his trainer.'
Everybody were giggling until realisation dawned upon them. Their eyes widened and jaws dropped. Everybody watch Ash as if expecting him to say it was some sort of joke, but he was just standing there grinning at them.
"YOU WON THE LEAGUE!?" May finally shouted
"Um... yeah... and since there was no Champion before the league, I immediately became the Champion." Ash replied while backing up a little.
"WHAT!?" everybody shouted even louder. Ash now back up even more while nervously chuckling. while Mallow just watched them. Of course, being an Alola native, she knew Ash was the champion.
After the group processed what was happening, they continued asking Ash questions.
"So, what happened next?" asked Paul
"Well, I had to pick my Elite 4. I offered Red a position, but he said he would go back to training and challenge other leagues in other regions. I then decided to go and battle all 16 gym leaders and made my decision by choosing the four I thought were the strongest. Since then, there have been 2 leagues and I am still the Champion of Alola." finished Ash.
Everybody was in awe after hearing Ash's story. Every single one of them knew that Ash would either enter the Elite 4 or become a Champion one day, but they didn't know that it would be so soon. All of Ash's friends were really happy for him and were proud of him as all of them have witnessed his growth. From the clueless young trainer that tried to catch a Pidgey using a T-shirt to the current Champion of Alola.
Eventually, everybody congratulated him. They all exclaimed their happiness towards the good news and started conversing among themselves, when suddenly, a very large growl was heard. It startled everybody. When everybody turned to the source of the sound, they found Ash blushing out of embarrassment while scratching the back of his head with one hand while rubbing his belly with another.
Everybody in the group apart from Ash and Serena started laughing, mostly because Ash was embarrassed and Serena had no idea what was going on. She soon started looking at Ash rubbing his belly and connected the dots which made her laugh too.
"Ash, that is probably your loudest tummy growl I have ever heard!" said Cilan.
"Yeah... I haven't eaten anything since yesterday afternoon..." replied Ash, sounding a bit upset.
While everybody else was still giggling lightly, Serena's laughter abruptly stopped. She remembered what happened to Ash and felt horrible about it. She knew that she had to do something to make up for it so she immediately reached for her bad and took out a medium sized box. She then walked over to Ash.
"Hey Ash, here. I made these this morning and I want you to have them." said Serena handing the box to Ash.
Everybody in the group suddenly went quiet.
Ash looked at Serena and the box on her hands. "Are you sure Serena? What will you eat?" asked Ash with a slightly concerned voice.
"Sure I'm sure. Here, take this as my congratulations for winning the battle!" said Serena with a smile as she placed the box into Ash's hands.
The group watch the event unfold in front of them in shock. Everybody, except Ash and Mallow, knew what the box was. It contained Serena's famous macarons. She would always give the box to Calem after every battle and would never let anyone else even take a bite. The fact that she handed the whole box to Ash blew everybody's minds.
"Thanks Serena!" Ash replied while grinning widely which made Serena's cheeks heat up.
"You're welcome!" Serena replied while looking down to the ground, trying, but failing, to cover her flaring cheeks with her hair.
Ash put a macaron in his mouth and his eyes immediately lit up as he started cupping his cheeks trying to savour every ingredient in them.
"This is the best thing I have ever eaten! You're amazing Serena!" Ash replied while shoving another macaron into his mouth.
"T-Thanks Ash!" Serena replied. Her cheeks now turned the colour of a Tomatoberry as Ash complemented her baking and called her "amazing".
"Gee, Thanks!" said Cilan pouting a little but ended up smiling at Ash's childlike behaviour. They all laughed at Cilan's comment.
While Ash was eating and Serena was watching him, everybody else started thinking about the day. Everybody in the group had noticed Serena's unusual behaviour towards and around Ash. She seemed worried about Ash during the battle and supported Ash rather than Calem during the battle. Serena was in tears when Ash was feeling Greninja's pain even though she barely knew him. Serena was practically jumping with Joy when Ash won. Now, she just gave Ash the box of macarons she always made for Calem. The group had never seen her blush this much around anybody else either, not even Calem. Misty suddenly spoke up.
"Do you think Ash will be able to like her back? I mean, he is just really dense!" she said.
"Hey, we don't know, he might have escaped that shell of his while in Alola." replied Dawn.
"Ashy-Boy will never have a girlfriend. The only thing he loves is Pokemon." replied Gary which earned him giggles from one half and glares from the other half of his friends.
Mallow suddenly stepped into the conversation.
"Actually, I think Ash is in love with somebody already. I feel sorry for Serena."
The boys, apart from Gary, didn't particularly care. The girls on the other hand looked at Mallow as if she had told them someone burnt their houses down.
"WHAT!?" they all whisper yelled, trying not to grab too much attention from Ash and Serena.
"It's true. There was this girl in Alola who was obsessed with Ash. I too thought Ash was dense but decided I would help him out and told him to just give her a shot. Ash denied immediately. I asked him why, but he never gave an answer. I kept trying to get an answer out of him but he would always block me out. That was until the day when Ash's admirer backed him into a corner. She really wanted to be with Ash and pleaded to him. She was very desperate for some reason. Ash then flipped and told her that he liked someone else. The girl broke down and ran away. I thought Ash was lying so I wen't to yell at him... and I did. I told him it was wrong to lie to her like that, but what he said next really surprised me. He told me that he was telling the truth and he really did like someone else. When I asked who it was, he didn't reply, but instead just walked away. He looked like he was about to break down so I let him go." said Mallow.
"Wow... I never knew that Ash had this side to him. I wonder who this girl is." said May.
"Well... I wouldn't give up on pestering him about this mysterious girl. That was until one day, on the way home after school, Ash and I got caught up in a thunderstorm so we took shelter in a hollow tree. There we were just talking and I back back to the subject again. This time, to my sursprise, he said and started talking. He said that he met her back when he was 7 in Prof. Oak's summer camp. He sai-"
Mallow was immediately cut off my the girls.
"WHAT!?" said Misty.
"That long ago?" asked May.
"Why did he never tell us about this!?" Dawn was fuming. Ash used to tell her about his past but the fact that he missed out something this important made her really angry.
"I think I know what you're talking about Mallow. The girl with the straw hat?" Asked Gary.
Now the girls' attention was one Gary.
"How do you know Gary!?" asked Mallow, a bit surprised.
"I have been Ash's friend since the day we were born Mallow. I know almost everything about him. It was gramps' summer camp, so of course I attended. I saw him walking out of the woods one day while holding hands with a girl with a straw hat. The always used to play together everyday and Ash would always talk to me about her. The final day, those two spent the day with each other walking around the woods, just the two of them. When the day finally came to an end, the girl was really upset and I remember her hugging Ash, crying into his shirt. Ash was really upset too. He was always a happy-go-lucky kid and I had never seen Ash that upset. After she left, I talked to Ash hoping to make him feel better. Ash wasn't the same for a couple of months but soon came back to being the Ash we know now... I never thought Ash would still remember her. I don't think he will ever find her though." Gary said a bit upset.
The girls were taken aback but Gary's final sentence.
"Why?" asked Misty.
"Because, Ash, being the idiot he is, forgot to ask the girl her name! I mean, the spent every waking hour with each other for 3 whole days and he doesn't ask her her name?" Gary replied sounding a bit annoyed.
"I'm sure he had a name for her... I mean, they had to communicate somehow, right?" asked Iris.
"He did tell me that he used to call her 'Honey' because of the colour of her hair... I might not be correct, my memory is a bit rusty." Gary said appearing deep in thought.
"Awwwwwwww..." squealed Dawn and May.
"That is so adorable!" said Dawn.
"I never knew about this side of Ash!" said May.
"So wait, he has been waiting 10 years for this girl!?" Dawn said as realisation dawned upon her.
"Wow, Ash is one loyal kid!" said Iris.
"Gary, you know a lot more about Ash and this girl than I do! " said Mallow raising an eyebrow.
"Like I said, I am his childhood friend." replied Gary.
Misty was deep in thought. 'So, that's why he rejected me at the end of our journey!'. Misty still had a smile on her face though as she had already gotten over Ash and now knows why Ash did so. Clearly, this girl was special to Ash.
"But, I still feel sorry for Serena. Calem is a nice guy but I don't think he can even compare to Ash." said Dawn which caused a few raised eyebrows.
"Oh, come on guys, you need to know that Ash and I have a sibling like relationship." Dawn said while sweat dropping.
Everybody agreed to Dawn's statement though. Although Calem was a nice person, he wasn't always reliable and what happened in the battlefield today terrified everybody.
"Yeah, Serena should get over him pretty quickly though. She will soon realise that Ash won't like her back." sighed Misty.
"Hey, you never know!" replied Mallow. The group looked over to Mallow giving her a 'What do you mean by that?' look, to which Mallow pointed towards Ash and Serena.
When the group looked over, they saw Ash and Serena sitting on a small bench, a bit far away from everybody else. They were talking to each other with wide smiles on their faces. They were sharing the box the macarons. Serena was feeding Pikachu a macaron while Ash was sitting there smiling at the sight.
"Hmm... maybe you're right. We'll just have to wait and see." replied May.
Serena then saw them looking at her and Ash. Shen then said something to Ash as they started making their way to the group.
"Well.. its getting late, we better go back to our dorms!" said Serena as soon as she reached the girls.
"Yeah, you're right, lets go!" said Dawn.
"Wait, are you guys on the same flat?" asked Mallow
"Yeah, all the girls in our group are on the same flat." said Iris
"Yeah, Calem is in the same flat as us too." said Serena
Ash's face dropped when she mentioned Calem and it didn't go unnoticed by Gary, Misty, May, Dawn, Iris and Mallow. Serena couldn't see it as Ash as standing behind her.
Gary suddenly got an idea.
"Hey, why don't Ash and Mallow join us? Cilan, Clemont, Paul, Drew, Barry, Kenny and I are flatmates but we have a free room. Why don't you move into that room Ash? Mallow, the Girls have 2 free rooms too. I'm sure if you ask Prof. Sycamore, he'll let you guys relocate! And our flat is right above the girls' flat!" said Gary with enthusiasm.
"Yeah Ash! I think that's a great idea!" said Serena with a wide grin on her face.
"I'm down for that!" said Mallow smiling.
"I don't know. I want to but moving all my stuff is going to be a pain. I've already set my room up too." said Ash sounding a bit upset.
Serena's grin immediately turned into a frown and she looked down to the floor. The group noticed this and Gary immediately spoke up.
"Don't worry Ashy-boy, that boys and I will help with the relocation." he said giving a thumbs-up.
Ash immediately broke out into a grin and so did Serena at Gary's suggestion as Ash replied "Thanks Gare-Bear! But it will have to be tomorrow. Its late already and I am tired today."
"Yeah, we were going back to our room now so see you tomorrow Ash!" said May.
"Bye Ash!" said the girls except Serena. The girls started walking back towards their dorm while Serena was still stood next to Ash.
"I need to get going too. Smell ya later Ashy-Boy!" said Gary as he started making his way back to his room too. The other boys had already left while Ash and Serena were conversing.
"Later Gary..." Ash sighed. Serena just giggled.
"What's so funny?" Ash asked with a raised eyebrow.
"A-Ashy b-boy!" Serena said, now bursting out in laughter.
"Hey, that's not funny!" Ash said while crossing his arms, pouting and turning away.
Serena stopped laughing but couldn't help but giggle at Ash's behaviour.
"Serena! Are you coming?" shouted Dawn from the other side of the road.
"Yeah, give me a sec!" said Serena.
She then turned to face Ash.
"Bye Ash." she said, sounding a bit disappointed by the fact that she has to leave.
Ash noticed this but replied.
"Bye Serena, see you tomorrow!" Ash sounded a lot happier and was smiling at Serena. It seemed to rub off on Serena.
"See you tomorrow, Ash!" Serena said while flashing him a smile.
The two then went their own way to their dorms. They were both tired. Ash because of the battle and Serena because of the fact that it was the first day back after summer break.
They were both soon in bed and were slowly drifting into sleep. The last thing on each one's mind was the other. Serena was thinking about Ash while Ash had Serena in his mind. Soon, they both fell asleep, excited for the next day so they could meet each other again.
End of Chapter 6
This was basically a filler chapter. Nothing much happened here but the little things that did take place (including behind the scene stuff that should be up on another chapter) might be exactly what is needed to start Ash and Serena off in their imminent journey with each other.
Anyways, I don't know when the next chapter will be up. I will try to take one out before the weekend but I make no promises.
Again, thank you for reading! The more reads I get, the more I want to write knowing that people might enjoy my content. I have the ending for this book planned out already. It should still take a lot more chapters but I think its better to be ready.
This book will most definitely have a sequel... you'll see why when the book ends.
I will see you guys in the next chapter!