The sound of Serena's soft breathing in Ash's ear seemed comforting to the boy, and the warmth of the egg in his arms was a nice feelings. Pikachu was curled up on Serena's lap beside him, across the isle of the plane sat Clemont and Bonnie; both asleep. Most of the people on board the plane were sleeping, which made sense since it was almost midnight. Ash however, just couldn't sleep for some reason.
Serena stirred beside him, and her eyes slowly opened; "Ash..."
"Hey..." the boy whispered back to her, "Did I wake you up?"
"No..." Serena shook her head, "I had a weird dream, that's all."
"What happened?" was Ash's reply.
"It was so strange," she looked over to him as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, "Bonnie beat her third gym and I won another contest. Then we saw Dawn again and the Paul guy too, after that we got on a plane and left for Johto... What made it weird was that it all felt so real."
"Serena, that's what happened." Ash smiled at the girl, "That tired huh?"
"I guess so..." she giggled softly.
Serena felt a sudden burst of confidence and she moved away the arm rest between her and Ash before snuggling up closer to him. She laid her head on his shoulder and turned until her lips gently touched his cheek before allowing herself to drift off to sleep again.
Ash's eyes went wide for a moment as he looked over at the girl beside him, his hand slowly rose to the spot on his cheek where her lips had been; it felt warm.
________________________________________________________________________________
"Wow!" Bonnie gasped as she looked around Goldenrod City, "What's that?!"
"That's the Goldenrod Radio Tower!" Ash told her, looking to Clemont and Serena, "We might be dressed a bit to warm for here, wanna get some new clothes?"
"That might be a good idea, I'm already starting to feel hot." Serena nodded, pulling out her tablet, "There's a clothes shop nearby. Come on!"
Serena pushed open the door to the store, Ash took it and everyone walked inside. Much like in Sinnoh they dispersed to find new clothes that better fit their location. Bonnie found a pair of somewhat long tan shorts and a brown short sleeved top, she kept her gloves and got a pair of sneakers with similar mismatched laces. She also bought a new bag since hers was wearing down a good bit, a pink one took its place.
Clemont ended up once again tying the jumpsuit off at his waist and got a short sleeved orange top to go with it. He also bought parts for his inventions in the electronics section of the store.
Ash ended up in a pair of grey and red capri pants with a black shirt and a light blue, short sleeved over-shirt with black lines on the zipper and sleeves. He wore the same sneakers as Sinnoh and pulled on the same hat as well. He also got a red and black backpack and a protective case for his egg.
"Where's Serena?" Ash asked as they all met back up near the front.
"Here!" Serena grinned at them as she walked up to them, 'How do I look?"
She wore a long pink skirt that was tied off at the waist with a pink bow. She also wore a black, sleeveless top that folded over onto her shoulders, on her head was a large red hat with a black ribbon wrapped around it; a small bow tied it off at the side. On her feet were simple white shoes with red, half-pokeball logos on them. Ash smiled at the ever present blue ribbon that was tied around her left wrist.
Ash was dumbstruck for a moment before quickly speaking up, "You look great!"
"Such a cute outfit!" Bonnie squealed.
"I like it." Clemont complimented.
"Thanks guys!" Serena smiled, "You all look awesome too!"
From there they all set off back into the city, they had landed early in the day, so the sun was high in the sky. Serena pulled out her tablet and looked through it for good places to visit before they started training.
"How about Cherrygrove City? It says here it looks really pretty this time of year." she told them, showing them a picture of the city, "And it says that the local 'Quagsire Festival' is coming up."
"Sounds like fun to me." Clemont agreed, nodding his head.
"Yeah!" Bonnie exclaimed, "Let's go then!"
"I don't really see why not." Ash shrugged and they all set off towards Route 31.
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They ended up camping on the side of the road after passing through Violet City. The camp fire let off a pleasant glow as they all sat around it, laughing at something Ash had said.
"It stole the pokeball?" Bonnie giggled as she spoke.
"Yeah, and then we tried to chase it down," Ash told them, "Only to find that we weren't allowed to bother them at all!"
They all laughed a while longer before Clemont finally yawned and stretched out his arms, "I'm gonna go get some sleep."
"Night!" Ash called out to the boy as the blonde retreated into the tent.
Bonnie had already gone to sleep a little while before, so it left Ash and Serena together on the log that they rolled by the fire. Ash turned his head to look at the girl, and he couldn't help but notice how the glow of the fire complemented her features. A small smile played on the girls lips as she too looked over to the boy beside her.
"I'm glad we're continuing out journey." she told him, "I wasn't ready to say goodbye..."
Ash smiled at her words, his hands gently setting the egg down on the soft grass at his feet. He reached over and placed a hand on Serena's shoulder, "I wasn't either, honestly I don't think I'll ever be ready..."
"Then how do you always do it?"
"I just think about my goals and my dreams," he said softly, "I know that to get where I want to get, I have to keep moving forward."
Serena hummed in response, "What if I can't say goodbye?"
"Well," Ash thought for a moment, "If you're in Kalos then Clemont and Bonnie would be nearby. And I'd be sure to stay in touch-"
"But what if that's not enough?" she clarified, "What if I need YOU with me?"
"... Then I'll be there as long as you need."
"Even if that's forever?"
Ash moved his hand from Serena's shoulder to her own hand, "Even if that's forever."
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The next morning they set out again for Cherrygrove City, the warm air was a welcome change from the cold climate of Sinnoh. As they walked along the path to Cherrygrove, Ash heard a noise from behind them.
"Well well well," out from the bushes stepped James from Team Rocket, "It's the twerps!"
"Prepare for trouble!"
"Make it double!"
"To protect the world from devastation!"
"To unite all peoples within our nation!"
"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"
"To extend our reach to the stars above!"
"Jessie!"
"James!"
"Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light!"
"Surrender now or prepare to fight!"
"Meowth, that's right!"
Ash scowled as he glared at the three wrongdoers, hand immediately flying to the pokeballs on his belt while Pikachu sparked his cheeks.
"What do you want?!" Serena reached to her own pokeballs as well.
"De?!" Dedenne hopped out of Bonnie's bag.
"Yeah! Get lost!" Bonnie yelled at them.
"Che! Chespin!" Chespin let himself out of the pokeball.
"Chespin!" Clemont exclaimed.
"We've been watching you twerps since you left Kalos," Jessie leered at them, "And we want that egg."
"No way!" Ash quickly placed the egg, still in its case, in his bag, "Pikachu! Iron Tail!"
"Inkay, join the fray!" James called out the pokemon he had caught in Kalos.
"Gourgeist!" Jessie called out her own pokemon.
Pikachu's tail slammed into Inkay, sending it into the ground.
"Chespin! Use Vine Whip!"
The green vines wrapped around Gourgeist, slamming it into the ground.
"Crogunk!" another voice called out from nearby, "Poison Jab!"
A flash of blue shot ahead of Ash and the others, and a glowing purple attack hit Inkay.
"Ash!"
"Brock!"
"Another twerp?!"
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"What are you doing here Brock?" Ash asked his old friend after introducing everyone.
"Well," Brock began, "I was over here in Johto picking up some important medical supplies from Blackthorn City. I took the long way back through Mt. Mortar and was on my way back to Kanto when I saw you four and Team Rocket."
"So you're a pokemon doctor then?" Clemont questioned, "Ash mentioned you had been a Gym Leader at one point, but never anything about medical training."
"I'm actually a pokemon breeder," he explained, "I trained under Nurse Joy for a while, so I know a good deal about health care with pokemon."
"You get to hatch pokemon?!" Bonnie looked at him excitedly.
"That's right. I started up a daycare near Pewter City after I finished traveling with Ash." he told her.
"Oh!" Serena looked to Ash, "What about you egg?"
"Oh?" Brock looked at Ash, "You have an egg?"
Ash gently pulled the egg from his bag, careful not to rattle it to much inside the case. He opened the small hatch at the top and pulled out the egg, "Yup."
"May I?" Brock gestured to the egg, and Ash nodded.
Brock studied the egg closely, "Could it be a... no, it's got yellow spots on it..."
"What?" Serena questioned.
"I don't know." Brock replied, "I've never seen one like this. But, I know who might have an idea."
"Who?" Ash cocked his head to the side as he placed the egg back into the case and then his bag.
"Professor Elm," he told Ash, "He's in Kanto with Professor Oak though, but you could always come with me to Kanto and see Misty, Tracey, the Professors, and your mom too."
"What do you guys think?" Ash looked to his companions, "We could go to Kanto for a bit and travel there before coming back here to Johto."
"That sounds good to me." Clemont agreed.
"Pika!" Pikachu cheered, excited to go back to Kanto for a bit.
"I wanna meet all your other pokemon Ash!" Bonnie exclaimed, "I bet they're so cute!"
"I'd like to see Pallet Town again after so long." Serena told them, "I say we go."
"Well then," Ash turned back to Brock, "I hope you don't mind a few extras on the way back?"
That night, Ash and Brock sat side by side after the others fell asleep.
"It's been a while, hasn't it?"
"Yeah, and today sure was interesting."
"Yeah, we were set for Johto first; but I think it'll be nice to visit Kanto."
"You've been missed, that's for sure."
Ash smiled, it hadn't been his original plan; but it was certainly the good kind of A Surprising Turn Of Events.