The gang had left Coumarine city about two weeks ago and it's been pretty uneventful. However now they are traveling through the Lumiose Badlands, and the name was well deserved as all that anyone could see was dry cracked soil, rocks, sand, and some desert plants. "How much further?" Bonnie groaned from Clemont's back. The heat had been getting to everyone, but Bonnie being much younger wasn't as tolerant of it, leaving Clemont to carry her on his back with Dedenne riding on her head. Serena pulled out her tablet and checked the map, "not much further, about one mile left till we get to the Pokemon Center. From the looks of it we should be able to see it once we get over that hill." Serena said pointing to a hill a couple hundred feet ahead of them. Serena only made a few more steps before the heat got to her too, "I don't know how much more of this I can stand. This heat is unbearable, I don't know if I can walk that far." She said hunched over. As Ash looked at her after that statement he got a fun idea. He walked to her side, and before Serena even knew he was there he scooped her up in his arms bridal style. "Eeeeeek" was all that came out of Serena's mouth from the shock of getting picked up. She then looked at Ash, "what? You said you didn't think you could walk that far. So, I figured I'd carry you." Said Ash with a smile. She was blushing, but nobody could tell since the heat had everyone's face red. Even though they couldn't see it Bonnie and Korrina did suspect as they gave her a mischevious smile. Serena decided to not look back at them and just enjoy Ash carrying her, and day dream of another particular circumstance in the future where Ash would carry her.
About twenty minutes later the gang reached the top of the ridge and saw a very welcoming sight. "Serena was this even on the map?" Asked Korrina. Serena pulled out he tablet and double checked, "no, it just shows the Pokemon center in the middle of nowhere. There isn't even any information about this being here." What they saw was the Pokemon center in the middle of a lush oasis, complete with a beautiful blue spring just a couple of feet away from the Pokemon Center. After a short walk further they were walking into the Pokemon center. "Welcome, how may I help you?" Nurse Joy asked. "Could you take a look at our pokemon and three rooms please." Said Clemont as he put Bonnie down and everyone handed Nurse Joy and Wigglytuff their pokeballs as well as Pikachu and Dedenne. "Of course, here's your key cards and we'll get your Pokemon back to you soon." "Thanks Nurse Joy." Said Clemont, he then headed over to the others who were standing under an air vent blowing out cold air. "Ok, Ash and Serena here's your key, and Bonnie here's yours. Bonnie started getting her own room when staying at the Pokemon center after Clemont and Korrina shared a tent for the first time, three days after leaving Coumarine city.
Flashback
The group left Coumarine city three days ago and were now setting up camp for the night. Ash and Serena were setting up their tent, Korrina was setting up hers, Clemont was already done setting his up and was helping Bonnie with hers. Bonnie was working very hard to keep Clemont focused on her tent while Korrina put her and Bonnie's plan into action.
"Uughh, why won't this stupid tent stay up!" Korrina said fake angry. "Hey Clemont, I've got it from here. Why don't you go give Korrina a hand." Said Bonnie who didn't really need help in the first place. "Alright. Korrina, let me give you a hand with that." "That would be great thanks." Korrina said as she moved aside so Clemont could find the "problem". Clemont tried to stand the tent up, but with no luck. He then started to examine the parts until he found the problem. "Well here's your problem." Clemont was holding a broken tent rod for Korrina to see, the same one she broke intentionally while Clemont was busy helping Bonnie. "Well that's great," Korrina said sarcastically, "I guess I'm going to have to replace that in the next town. Wait! Where am I supposed to sleep now." Korrina pretended to sound distressed saying the last part. Bonnie then chimed in, on cue, "Well, you and Clemont are dating after all. You could just do like Ash and Serena and share a tent." Clemont's face went bright red. "Is that ok with you Clemont?" Korrina said with her head tilted down, while looking up giving a sweet innocent look. "Thhats fffine with me." Clemont said with a stutter. "Great!" Korinna said happily as she grabbed her bag and put it in Clemont's tent. As she walked back to her tent to put it back on her bag she stopped and whispered in his ear, "I hope you don't mind, I like to sleep in only my bra and panties." Clemont turned and even brighter red. Korrina then continued to her tent to put it away. Bonnie then walked up beside Clemont and handed him a tissue, "here, your nose is bleeding."
Back to present
The gang was just sitting on the couches enjoying the air conditioning when they heard the chime that their Pokemon were ready. Ash and Clemont went to get everyones Pokemon except for Dedenne, he jumped off the counter and ran to Bonnie as soon as he was set down on the counter. While they were collecting the pokeballs Nurse Joy spoke with them, "from the looks of it you all have been walking through the badlands for a while. Letting you know you can take a dip in the spring outside." "Really? But wouldn't the water be warm?" Ash asked. "Oh no. It stays nice and cold due to the underground spring." Replied Nurse Joy, "but I must ask that you don't capture any of the spoink, they take care of the oasis." "That sounds like a great idea thank you." Said Clemont. When they returned to the girls they told them about this and they loved the idea, they all then went to their rooms to change.
Ash and Clemont were changed first and decided to wait for the girls in the lobby. During this time Ash thought it would be a good idea to rotate his Pokemon, so he went to the transfer machine and swapped Krookodile for Lapras, and Aerodactyl for Fletchender. Ash and Clemont were waiting patiently, but Ash was getting bored, "how long does it take for them to get ready. What's taking so l......" Ash cut himself short as he saw Serena and Korrina walking in in there bikinis. Ash couldn't take his eyes off of Serena so to get Clemont to look he hit his arm and then signaled him to turn his head. Clemont's eyes got wide and he was bright red at the sight of Korrina in her bathing suit. Serena wore a pink bikini with a blue outline with a black ring in the middle of her top drawing any onlookers eyes right there, in this case Ash's. Serena noticed this and giggled. Korrina was wearing a red string bikini that didn't leave alot to the imagination. Pikachu noticed the trance Ash and Clemont were in and gave them both a small shock, just enough to bring them back to reality. The girls realized why Pikachu did it and giggled, loving the effect they had on their boyfriends. After this they grabbed there things and headed out to the spring. Most of the area surrounding it was rocky but one spot was sandy, and big enough for them to all be able to lay out if they wanted to.
Everyone released their Pokemon and told them to relax and have some fun. All of them doing various things, Lapras wanted to get to know Ash's new friends, so it decided to start by playing with Bonnie in the water, however Bonnie wasn't a very good swimmer. Korrina noticed this and took it upon herself to help teach her. While teaching Bonnie she would occasionally blush as she felt like a mother teaching her child to swim, and hoped Clemont saw this and thought the same. After a while Bonnie was a bit tired and wanted to go to build a sand castle, Serena who was feeling a bit tired herself decided to join her. They borrowed some buckets and other sand castle making tools from the Pokemon Center and got to work. As they were working Ash looked over and saw Bonnie and Serena working on the sand castle. As he watched Ash couldn't help but think how Serena looked like a mom playing with her child. In this moment Ash realized how important Serena was to him and how close he felt to her, and started to think of them together beyond Kalos.
After a few hours everyone was getting hungry, and decided since the sun was setting and it was getting cooler they would eat outside by the spring. They had a delicious meal made by Clemont, and ingredients provided by the spoink that they gathered for the group from the area. Everyone sat around the fire they built and enjoyed the meal even the spoink that they shared their meal with, then Korrina pulled out ingredients for dessert, marshmallows, graham crackers, and chocolate bars. The desert, even though loaded with sugar, wasn't enough to keep Bonnie awake, as shortly after eating her fifth smore fell asleep, resting her head on Korrina's lap. Korrina and Clemont smiled as Clemont picked up Bonnie and carried her back to her room with Korrina following right beside him, making several people look at them and think they were Bonnie's parents. Ash, with the help of Lapras, put out the fire and walked with Serena back to their room.
Once back in their room Ash and Serena both took showers, starting with Ash since he would be the quickest. Ash was now sitting on the bed in his boxers, Pikachu was asleep on a pillow Ash put on a chair for him. As Serena was finishing up in the bathroom Ash kept thinking about his relationship with her. This was the happiest he had been in a long time, and he didn't want to imagine a life without her. To ensure this Ash knew he had to come clean about everything. Just then the bathroom door opened and Serena stepped out wearing a black bra and matching panties. "That felt good." Said Serena as she walked out of the bathroom. She then noticed Ash sitting on the bed with his head down. "Ash are you ok?" Ash raised his head, when his eyes laid on her he smiled, "I'm fine, I've just been thinking." "About what?" "Just that when you were helping Bonnie build that sand castle, I couldn't help but think you looked like a mom playing with her child." Serena blushed, she was shocked that a thought like that even entered him mind. Not that she was complaining, she knew she wanted to be the mother of his children one day. Serena then took a deep breath, "Well who knows one day I might be doing the same thing with our children." Ash's smile got a little bigger, "I like the sound of that." Then Ash's smile disappeared, Serena noticed this. "Ash, what's wrong?" Ash looked at her with a serious expression, "Serena I care about you more than I've ever cared about anyone. I feel like we have that forever kind of love and I want us to actually have a chance at it." Serena's blush hit new levels as Ash poured his heart out to her. "And to have that chance we need to be completely honest with each other, I need to be completely honest, no secrets." Serena could see Ash was nervous, she then walked up to Ash, knelt down, and took his hands in hers, and looked into his eye's, "Ash what ever it is there is no way it could ever make me love you any less." Ash took a deep breath, "You know how I told you after my mom died I went to live with my cousin?" Serena nodded. "Well she's not my cousin, we're not even in any way blood related. She did adopt me though, her name is Queen Illene of Cameran Palace." Serena's eyes widened, "So since she adopted you, does that make you a prince?" Ash nodded, he then proceeded to tell Serena every thing, from his meeting with Queen Illene at Professor Oaks, to the story of Sir Aaron, to the deal they made for Ash to become prince, everything. Serena quietly listened to Ash's story, only speaking when he was done, "why didn't you tell me this before?" Ash expression saddened, "I was scared. When people know your royalty they treat you differently. Remember Miette, everyone was waiting on her hand and foot, like they were walking on egg shells. I don't like that, I want friends, people to know the real me." Ash looked away, "even now I'm scared." Serena looked at Ash confused. "I am royalty, which means after this journey I'm going back to a palace. And I know living in a palace, with servants and everything isn't for everyone, I don't even really like it. My fear is I don't feel like that's what you want either. I don't have much of a choice, you do. If its not what you want then why would you want to be with someone who has to live like that." Serena put both her hands on his cheeks and turned his head to face her. "Your right Ash, I don't want to live in a palace being waited on. But at the same time as long as I have you I don't care where we live. Wether it's in a tent in the middle of the woods or in a lavish palace, I don't care where I live, being with you trumps everything." Ash read her aura and could tell she was speaking from the heart. He then smiled and kissed her, "I love you, I love you so much." "And I love you, always, no matter what." As they kissed Serena started to rise up to sit on Ash's lap as they made out, but before she could get into position, Ash grabed her by the butt and then picked her up as he stood up. This caught he off guard but she quickly recovered as she wrapped her legs around him. They made out a little longer before Ash laided her down on the bed. He then lowered himself to her, never take his eye's off of hers, and as he did all this he knew he had found his queen.