Hi everyone!! SK here.
First off, I just wanna give all of you a BIG thank you!! A couple days ago, this book ranked #7 in the Amourshipping tag, and jumped up to #5 on Friday. Now, it's sitting at #20 (but to me this is still AMAZING!!). Thank you all so much for supporting me and reading this book, it really means a lot to me.
This chapter will be super long... so I hope you enjoy!!
Ash
After I wait a couple minutes in the flower room alone, Serena flies up to me with a much-welcomed smile on her face. "I hope he didn't bore you too much," she comments while conjuring a portal, similar to how Heliux made his. "I don't know why he was insisting on giving you a lesson literally five minutes after you arrived here." We both walk through it, suddenly appearing on the ground.
"It was fine," I reassure her. "To be honest, I did find it kinda interesting."
"Really?" Serena looks surprised, then lets out a small laugh. "When he taught me, I fell asleep every other lesson."
I laugh with her, relishing how good it feels to do it. To be honest, the whole truth of today's events really hasn't set in much. I'd finally found Serena. I left the only home I'd ever known to be with her. My birthday is tomorrow, and I'll finally become a fairy; I'll be with Serena forever.
It almost seems too good to be true.
"Well, want me to introduce you to your old friends?" Serena asks kindly. "O-Or, I mean, you already know them, so, uh, I guess you would go see them yourself? I-I mean-" she fumbles with her fingers and her face goes red; she's clearly flustered.
I just put my hands on her shoulders, stopping her from rambling as she looks up at me. "That would be great, Your Lightness."
"H-Hey! Don't call me that, just call me Serena like always!" she fumes, trying to playfully swat at me. I dodge easily, giving her a sly smile. She rolls her eyes, though I could tell that she doesn't mean her actions. Sighing fondly, she says, "Come on then, everyone's been dying to talk to you."
Still smiling, I follow Serena around, becoming a little bit confused when she stops suddenly. "Oh, wait!" she exclaims. "I should give you a tour, shouldn't I?"
I shrug. "Only if you want to," I tell her. "I wouldn't mind if you did, though."
"Then it's settled!" her eyes sparkle. "Follow me, I'll be your tour guide for today, Mr. Ketchum." I raise my eyebrows at the name, but I just assume that this is her quote-on-quote 'revenge' for referring to her by her formal title.
"Oh, the room you just came from is the Knowledge Hall," she adds quickly before we travel to far from it. "Heliux does lessons there, as you know, and that's also where we keep our old texts." I frown, not remembering seeing any books there, which causes Serena to interject, "They're magic-bound, so only Elementals can see them- that includes you, but they're buried deep underground in order to protect them. Full fairies can go down to see them because of their magic."
"Ah, that makes sense," I comment, quickening my pace a little to walk beside Serena. I grab her hand, causing her to blush slightly. Exactly how I remember her...
"As you can see, there's lots of flowers," Serena tells me. That's an understatement; over-sized flowers are the only structures in this camp- er, Colony, right? I don't know the correct word yet but I'm pretty sure it's Colony. Many smaller ones grow upwards, while there are many larger ones curled up near the ground. All of them are different colours and shapes, and it's honestly very beautiful to look at. It definitely completes the magical feel of the space.
"Everyone has their own room, er, flower to stay in," she adds. "That... that still feels really weird to say, even after all these years."
"Wait, so where's yours?" I ask, curious.
"Oh- over there," Serena answers, pointing to a rather large flower that peaks above all the others. Makes sense, considering she's the ruler of all the fairies. "And the larger ones near the ground are all common areas- like we have dining areas, all sorts of entertainment, and even a theatre."
"Wow, that's a lot," I say, intrigued. "So, at this theatre, you have performances?"
She nods. "Even I perform there sometimes. However, our battle arena is slightly more popular than-"
"Hold up. You guys have Pokemon battles!?" I exclaim, then realize that I interrupted Serena. "Oh, uh, sorry for interrupting..."
Serena waves it off with a smile. "Yeah, well, they're slightly different here, since everyone's Pokemon are connected to their souls. It's a little complicated, but that's why everyone's Pokemon look like they're made out of mist- we call them our Mist Pokemon."
"Heliux mentioned that," I say, though I still I feel a bit puzzled. "So, if they're connected to your soul, isn't battling dangerous then?" The situation reminds me of how I took damage when I was bonded with Greninja with our Bond Phenomenon.
"Actually, it's the opposite. Mist Pokemon are protected by our souls, so both the fairy and their Pokemon are protected. They can still be hurt, due to the battle, but it stops them from getting really bad injuries."
"Wait, so where's yours?" I ask, as I see no Pokemon with Serena right now. "It's Sylveon, right?"
She nods her head up and down. "Sylveon is resting," she tells me, pointing to her Necklace. "She'll be out soon."
I just simply nod, feeling a little confused but more determined than ever to learn the truth about these Necklaces and other fairy practices. "Where are we heading to?"
"The theatre," she replies. "I think a lot of your friends will be there." She doesn't say why, but I assume it was for some fairy-thing that I don't know about nor understand just yet. Boy, I've got a lot to catch up on...
"Cool!" I smile. I follow Serena in silence for a bit, my head turned towards the sky. The trees create a beautiful canopy of greens above our heads, the sunlight coming in through the leaves to form dappled speckles on the ground. It isn't long before we arrived at the theatre, which is located slightly outside of the main area. Before I can set my eyes on the theatre and what it looks like, two hands promptly cover my eyes.
"Hey, what gives!?" I protest.
"Serena, why'd you bring him here!?" A girl's voice whines- it sounds like Misty. "He can't see this until tomorrow!"
"He wanted to say hi to you all," Serena's voice says from beside me.
"Ah, okay, fine. I guess we can take a little break." I get turned around, and Misty removes her hands from my face. "Don't you dare turn around, or you'll regret it."
"Misty, don't threaten him," comes another voice- it sounds like Dawn's. "That wasn't very nice."
"Hmph. Whatever."
"Oh come on, stop with that," says Serena, and I can hear her laugh. "You sound like Heliux, Misty."
Misty spews out some nonsense as Serena leads me out of the clearing; everyone else catches up with us after a short while. I have no idea where we are going, but when we arrive there I can tell it's one of those dining areas Serena mentioned earlier. A green-haired fairy greets us, her long hair tied up in two pony-tails. All of us sit down at a table, and Serena orders smoothies for all of us. "Thanks Mallow!" she adds to the fairy as she turns to go and make the drinks. In response, the green-haired fairy just smiles.
"No problem- you know how much I like cooking."
I look around at our table, unable to see everyone until now- Misty, Dawn, May, Iris, and, oh.
Wow... Bonnie looks so grown-up. Her hair is longer, as I can see it pulled up in a small bun. There are a few loose strands, and her tell-tale side pony-tail is still there, but it's slightly longer and doesn't stick out like it used to. Her pale blue eyes still have their usual sparkle, which me and Clemont had missed on the really dark days.
Mairin is here too, except she doesn't really seem like the Mairin I got to know. On the outside she looks happy and refreshed, though I can tell by the way her eyes have this dull look about them that something had happened.
The green-haired girl- Mallow?- arrives with all of our drinks. I take a tentative sip of mine as soon as I receive it, and oh man is it delicious. I guess I must have a pretty excited look on my face, because everyone is looking at me and smiling. "This is delicious Mallow! You really have talent," I tell her earnestly.
She shrugs. "When you do it everyday, I guess you get good," she replies, trying to hide a smile. "Do you guys want anything else? Something to eat maybe?"
Serena shakes her head. "I'm fine with just this for now, right everyone?" Everyone else nods in response, including me. I'm not that hungry right now anyways.
Mallow gives us a thumbs-up. "Cool. Let me know if you need anything." With that she leaves the room, presumably to go to whatever sort of kitchen she had. I turn back to my friends, my gaze friendly.
"So, catch me up!" I take a large sip of my drink.
"Well, I guess we should tell him our Elements, shouldn't we?" Misty said. "I'll go first. I'm part of the group that controls Water. Technically, I do stuff involving lakes and rivers, but I just say my Element is Water." Fresh Water, just like Heliux said.
"Wow, yours is so complicated Misty," May teases. To me, she adds, "And by the way, mine is Fire."
"Ice," Dawn says calmly while taking a sip of her own smoothie.
Iris doesn't seem that interested as she also takes a drink. "Mine's Night."
"Oh! My Element is Day, just saying!" Bonnie says with a bright smile.
"...Mine's Light," comes Mairin's quiet response. This is instantly a red flag for me; the Mairin I know is definitely not quiet.
"Okay, those are great and all, but what the heck is an Element!?" Also why does no one explain stuff to me!?
"Er, it's hard to explain, but basically, special people are born with them. They're closer to that Element, though they don't know it during the time they're human. If you don't have an Element, you can't become a fairy," Serena explains. "Or, I guess it's the area of magic you specialize in when you become a fairy?" That doesn't really help that much at all, but I suppose I'll learn more the more I stay here.
"H-Hi! May I join you all?" A voice I'd never heard before catches my attention, and I turn my head to see a pretty girl standing by the entrance. She has her pale blonde hair in two braids and she looks rather shy, I almost feel sorry for her. Standing next to her is a Misty Ninetales, Alolan form. I didn't get to spend much time in the Alola region, but I did get to see various Alolan Pokemon.
"Of course!" Serena says happily. "Take a seat."
The girl bows her head. "Th-Thank you. Oh, my name's Lillie by the way," she says when she sees me, probably noticing that fact that I'm new. "This is Snowy. My Element is Stars," she adds. "It's a pleasure to meet you!"
I smile at her- what a sweet girl! "It's nice to meet you too, Lillie. My name's Ash, Ash Ketchum."
The girls start talking among themselves, and I'm happy to just listen at that point. It's really weird to see them all this way, with their wings and special outfits, but I know I'll get used to it eventually. I turn my head to Serena, as there is a question I really want to ask her- after all, I'd seen all of my missing friends but one. "Serena?"
"Yeah?"
"Is Alain here? I haven't seen him."
It's as if I said some sort of spell or something; instantly, the table quiets down into an uneasy silence. Quickly, I realize that it was something not to be said, yet I don't know why.
"He... Alain is not h-here anymore," Mairin stutters. "He... I-I...!" Without another word, she pushes her chair back, promptly stands up, and leaves.
"I-I'll go talk to her," Lillie whispers. "It usually helps." When I look a little wary at the whole situation, Lillie adds, "I lost my brother to the other side too." She promptly gets up to follow Mairin.
I look at Serena, but to my despair, she appears to be just as distraught and upset as the rest of them. "Serena-"
"I had to," she whimpers. "Gladion... Alain... it broke my heart and theirs, and even years later it still hurts. B-But I had to-"
"H-Hey, it's fine," I say, going over to Serena to give her a quick hug. I want to know what happened to Alain and the other guy, Gladion, but for now my main motive is to make Serena smile again. "Just breathe Serena, breathe."
Serena doesn't say anything, but eventually she calms down. I know this isn't the time to ask, but I do want to know what happened to them before my Initiation comes up.
"Well, we should be going," Misty says suddenly, standing up. "We have- er, important business at the theatre, don't we girls?"
Everyone nods quickly and stands up, following Misty out. Bonnie hangs around, running up to me. "I need to talk to you later," she says quickly. "I want to hear about my brother."
I nod. "I'll come find you, don't worry."
With a happy look, Bonnie exits the room with her friends. "She's certainly grown-up," I comment to Serena, who nods.
"I know... when she first came, she was so lost and scared- she was in tears because she knew she'd left Clemont. I think when she saw me and Mairin, she was happy to at least have some familiar faces around. Eventually I think she got over it, but I know that she still misses Clemont," she says sadly.
"Clemont still misses her," I say quietly. Poor Clemont... we're all abandoning him... I feel so guilty, and I should be.
And yet... I can't help but feeling like I did the right thing.
"Your Lightness, we have some things to discuss," Heliux's voice says suddenly. I didn't even know he was here, so when I turn and see him standing at the entrance it almost gives me a mini heart-attack.
"But Heliux, I'm spending time with Ash!"
The Minister lets out a small hmph sound, and I suddenly understand the comment that Serena was making earlier to Misty. "Serena, these are extremely important matters and I need you to come with me. Now."
Serena sighs and starts to follow Heliux. "Hey Ash, why don't you visit the forest for a little while?" she suggests. "I'll come and find you when I finish with my meeting."
I nod. "Take your time," I call after them, then head out of the little restaurant-like place- but not before I thank Mallow for her delicious smoothies of course.
Walking toward the edge of the Colony begins to bring on an incoming sense of excitement, but then I stop.
Dammit, how do I get to the forest!?
Like I said, very long chapter. But still, I hope you enjoyed it!!
Question: What do you think happened to Gladion and Alain?? You probably will have no idea (the sole reason being that I didn't explain it yet), but if you want a hint, go back to the Prologue. If someone does manage to guess it right, I'll give them a shout-out, cause this is really hard to guess.
Anyway, I'm sorry this update was a little late- I had WiFi problems yesterday. Stay tuned for the next chapter everyone!!!