"So Ash, how was it?" asked Serena.
"It really was amazing Serena. Watching your performance after so long felt very nostalgic and heartwarming," Ash replied with a smile which Serena always loved.
"Th-thank you. It means a lot coming from you," Serena said as she looked away to hide her blush.
Before you get lost, let me explain what happened.
Ash really had a hard time to get through the crowd. Professor Sycamore and Gary was interested in how Ash trained his pokemon. Misty and Lana pestered him with questions about how he taught his Feraligatr Flamethrower. Honestly, he didn't know either. They were just practicing hyper beams one day when suddenly it.. turned into a flamethrower? Who knows?
After much efforts, he was able to get out of the arena in one piece. Serena also tagged along with him for some reason.
After Ash caught his breath, Serena asked him for a favour. As the Kalos Queen, she had to do a short performance to start another right here in Lumiose city. She was getting late already due to watching the battle. Ash felt bad about it and told his Gardevoir to teleport them, which she obliged.
After they reached their, Serena invited the Champion to watch her performance, which he agreed to. It has been a while he had done that. Ash entered and took a seat in the VIP. Palermo was there as well, who was delighted to meet Ash in person. They talked about a lot of things, until she asked if Ash and Serena were dating. Ash blushed, but still told her that they were just friends.
For now that is.
Serena's team consisted of her newly evolved Delphox, Sylveon, Pancham and a new member, which was an Ampharos.
Ash remembered Serena's performances from before and they were great. But now she was thousand times better at it. People loved her performances, but mostly her smile. The smile that Palermo taught her about and which greatly helped in her career.
After the fantastic performance ended, Ash took his leave. He met with Serena behind the stage and both decided to have lunch in a restaurant since it was almost time for it.
The pair were having their lunch in a VIP booth, chatting about things and stuffs.
Suddenly, Serena remembered something as she pulled out something from her bag. It was a blue ribbon.
"Hey Ash, remember this?" she asked.
Ash looked at the ribbon in her hands. It looked familar for some reason. He didn't notice he was taking his time.
"Well can't blame you if you forgo-" she started, a little bit sadly when Ash remembered.
"Wait, you still kept that ribbon I gave you as a gift all those years ago?" he asked incredulously.
She smiled. "Of course dummy. And it's not just any gift," she pouted.
Serena sighed before she started, "It reminds me of all the times we spent together, the adventures we had, everything I learnt from you and most importantly," she whispered the rest with a loving tone, "It holds a special place to my heart."
Ash felt a chill ran through his body. His face was red when he thought about how Serena could have meant that in a different way. But then again, it could've been just a friendly gesture.
'I really could use Gardevoir's help right now,' Ash thought desperately.
"Ash?" Serena interrupted his thoughts.
"Oh... Um.. Thanks Serena. I really appreciate that you think so highly of your past." Ash said, a little bit formally.
"Our past," Serena corrected and unintentionally, placed her hand on Ash's hand on the table.
Ash looked at the girl. Her beautiful eyes, cute face and that sweet smile that can brighten anyone's day. He then stared at her lips. Those soft, delicate, tasty lips and her tongue behind it that he really wanted to.....
'Snap out of it Ash DAMMIT,' he scolded himself as he tried to calm his nerves.
The waiter entered with their food right at that moment, as both broke out of their trance with a blush. Pikachu wanted to zap the guy for interrupting their moment.
Soon they finished their lunch, which Serena counted as a date in her list. Both then decided to walk their way to the campus. It was pretty difficult in the public, being a Queen and a Champion, but they managed to do it anyway. They stopped in front of the campus after arriving there.
"Thanks Ash. For everything. I really had a fun time," Serena said with a smile.
"No Serena. Thank you for inviting me. I had fun too," Ash replied returning the smile.
He suddenly had a Déjà vu of this situation but shrugged it off.
"Ok bye then," with that she went inside, but not before twirling around and giving a quick peck on his cheek. Ash froze on his spot from the kiss. Serena giggled and ran off, can't wait to tell her two friends about her day.
"Pika chuuu," said the rodent.
"What do you mean 'second' ?" Ash asked confused, still blushing, but the mouse just shrugged it off, copying its trainer.
***
Ash decided to stroll by himself once again, to clear his mind off things. He absentmindedly walked through the forest with the yellow mouse behind him. The silence always calms him down for some reason. He thought about everything that has happened ever since he came here. Reunion, Paul's challenge, another reunion, battling with Max and some stupid guys before that, hanging out with May, Calem's weird challenge, defeating him and then finally hanging out with Serena. Not to mention the constant attention on him from the others. He was lost in his thoughts when he heard a familiar voice.
"Yes its beautiful. Thank you."
Ash stopped and looked around for a bit, wondering from which direction it came from. He then spotted a clearing not too far away from where he was standing. It sounded pretty lively as out of curiosity, he went there to check it out.
He looked in awe as he saw a beautiful crystal clear lake in the middle of the forest. Beautiful flowers of different colours were blooming. Wild pokemon were jumping, swimming and playing around with each other. In the midst of the pokemon, a girl was sitting there who seemed to be talking with the pokemon. A Flabebe put a violet flower on her long amethyst hair as she expressed her gratitude. An Espeon was sitting by her side.
"Looks beautiful on you."
Anabel was startled by the calm and deep voice of Ash as she looked around. Her Espeon went on guard, thinking it was trouble, same as the pokemon around them.
She was surprised to see a familiar raven haired boy, for whom she had some hidden feelings for a long time.
"Ash!?" she exclaimed. The said boy smiled.
"Pikachu," the rodent exclaimed and jumped on Anabel's lap, happy to see her again.
The Salon Maiden's expression changed from surprise to a happy one.
"Hey Pikachu. It's nice to see you again," she said hugging the mouse who just squealed.
Espeon relaxed recognizing the two individuals. Her trainer used to talk a lot about the raven haired boy, after he went back to his journey defeating Anabel.
Ash sat beside her.
"I am guessing you come here as well to have some alone time?" Ash asked to which the Frontier Brain turned her attention to him.
"Yeah... It feels so good and relaxed around all these pokemon," she gestured to the wild pokemon around them, who were starting to interact with Ash as well.
Ash simply nodded as he started petting a Litleo.
It was late in the afternoon. The sun was radiating different shades of light behind the trees. Anabel looked at Ash. He really has matured, not just mentally, but physically as well. His face was attractive. His big auburn eyes, raven hair coming to his eyes, tan skin and a perfect jawline. He was muscular too as his biceps were popping out of his half sleeve jacket.
Anabel was mesmerised and kept blushing staring at Ash.
Pikachu who was sitting on her lap noticed this as he smirked.
"Chu pika?" the rodent commented in a low voice causing Anabel to go red in embarrassment. For her unique ability to understand pokemon, she knew what exactly the mouse said. Even Espeon giggled a bit.
"So tell me Pikachu," Anabel pretended to act like nothing happened.
"What are you and Ash upto lately?" she asked.
Pikachu looked at Ash with a smirk. Ash knew he wasn't going to like the answer.
"Pika chu pikapi chu pika pika. Pikapi chu pi chu."
Anabel frowned a bit at the last statement. Ash got furious.
"I don't hit on girls Pikachu!" Ash protested.
"What am I supposed to do if they are..... interested in me?!"
Pikachu laughed at his reaction as Anabel giggled too. She knew Ash wasn't that type of guy who likes to play with a girl's feelings. But she was surprised and relieved as well that Ash wasn't so dense like before. Then she noticed something that shocked her.
"Wait," she interrupted as Ash turned his attention to her from Pikachu.
"How did you understand what Pikachu said just now?" Anabel asked curiously.
"Well, I don't exactly hear what they say but," Ash said as he leaned back on the grass, "But I can understand their feelings and emotion, which leads me to know what they are trying to say," said Ash impressing the Psychic type trainer.
"You are really amazing Ash," Anabel said with a smile.
"Sheesh, it's not that big of a deal," Ash said trying not to take the credit.
"But I think the one amazing here is you," Ash said with his lady-killer close-eyed smile.
Anabel blushed and looked away from him. "Th-thanks," she muttered quietly.
After that it was silence between them. Both laid against a tree side by side as they took in the beautiful evening view. Nature seemed to be giving its blessing at that moment. The sky was beautiful with a mixture of red and orange, and the lake was reflecting its color. The pokemon there were roaming around and enjoyed themselves. Pikachu and Espeon were getting along too as they played with the other pokemon.
Anabel suddenly leaned her head on Ash's shoulder. He didn't seem to mind it as he looked at the girl sideways. The nature was effecting her too along with everything else. Her amethyst eyes were sparkling with a beautiful valiant mixer. She had a smile on her face as she gazed at the view in front of her. Ash couldn't help but think that she was one of the most beautiful girl there is. It seemed like the Champion was enjoying his own view as well.
But nothing good lasts forever.
Suddenly they heard faint cries of pokemon from far away. It wasn't clear enough, so they pretty much ignored it.
Suddenly a thin black smoke rose towards the sky in a distance following the sound of an explosion. This shook them out of their trance as they stood up from their position.
"What was that?!" both said in unison as they looked at each other.
"Think we should check it out?" Ash suggested alertly, sensing some sort of disturbance.
Anabel wasn't sure until a familiar Flabebe floated towards them with a worried expression on its face.
"Flab Flabe be!!" it said as Anabel looked worried and slightly mad as well.
"What did it say?" Ash asked noticing Anabel's change of expression.
"It says that some people over there came here with a vehicle full of caged pokemons. They are trying to catch some from here as well."
Pikachu and Espeon listened and went on guard as they looked around for any sort of danger.
"Must be hunters or poachers," Ash said thoughtfully. "Maybe they smuggled those pokemon in the cage and escaped here to Kalos," he said from his experience of dealing with them.
"We should go and rescue them," Anabel said but frowned a bit, "But I only have Espeon with me. Do you have any back up?"
Ash smiled. "Don't worry. I have a plan."
***
"Look Jimmy," said a voice as Jimmy looked at his partner. "I got a pancham, scaredy-cat was hiding in the bushes," the voice said with a smirk as the injured Pancham struggled.
"Alright Jordan put it in the second cage," Jimmy said as the guy went to do the task.
Jimmy was checking out the location on his GPS when Jordan came back.
"Where's Dan?" he asked.
"Repairing the truck. It'll take a while. Let's see if we can find anything else around here," Jimmy said putting the device in his pocket.
Dan was under the truck repairing it a little far away. The two goons walked past a huge metallic cage which held the pokemons they captured when they got here. The other cage was fitted on the back of the truck.
"Don't even try anythin funny," Jordan warned the pokemons, "The bars are electrocuted so stay in one place ya hear me?" he said. Some of them looked mad while the others looked scared.
The two just laughed, commenting about how pathetic they were, when suddenly there was a large black cloud in the once beautiful sky.
"Hmm? Looks like iz gonna rain," said Jordan looking at the sky.
"Strange. There wasn't anything about a storm in the foreca--" before Jimmy could finish his sentence, a large bolt of lightning rained down from the sky on the area they were in.
The lightning was so powerful it blew away everything on impact. The massive shockwave sent Jimmy and Jordan flying away, slamming their back against an Oak tree as they screamed in pain and fainted. Dan, who was under the truck, flew away to a direction opposite of the truck. Every pokemon within that area fled away scared to their deaths. The pokemon in the cages weren't doing any better.
Ash and Anabel were hiding behind some trees. Ash's plan was to distract them so Anabel could go and free the pokemons.
According to that, he told Pikachu to use a Thunder attack for the distraction, to which the mouse agreed resulting in the explosion right now.
"Now's your chance Anabel, go and free them," Ash said with urgency in his voice. Anabel silently went to do her part of the plan with Espeon.
Both the Salon Maiden and her pokemon were speechless at what happened just now. Never in her life she saw a Thunder that held so much power within. It was so strong she had no doubt in her mind that it could even rival Zapdos itself. She wondered how much strong the Champion really is.
Espeon was always calm minded just like her trainer. But now she was terrified too. Why wouldn't she? The cute little happy mouse she was playing with just a moment ago executed an attack that can even annihilate an army of strong pokemon.
With their respective thoughts, they reached the cages.
Anabel was going to touch it when a pancham warned her it was electrocuted. She understood and knew what to do.
"Espeon, use Psychic and pull open the bars," she said and the psychic evolution of eevee nodded and tore open the bars with her psychic powers. One by one the pokemon started to get out. She did the same with the other cage, as slowly but surely enough, all pokemon were out in no time.
Pikachu looked at the small distraction it caused in front of it.
"Pika pika?" the rodent asked its trainer innocently.
"You think?" Ash said with a glare.
Both got to the clearing. Ash looked at the fainted hunters who were leaning against an Oak tree.
"I already called the KDA and informed them the situation," Ash said, remembering there was a branch of the organisation in Kalos as well.
"They should be here any moment so---
THUD.
Ash heard a sound as he turned around. He gasped at what he saw. Anabel was on the ground clutching her head. A man was standing a few feet away from her.
Apparently it was Dan who didn't faint like his two partners. He woke up and saw Anabel freeing all the pokemon and thought she was the cause of all this. He had a crowbar in his hand which contained a little blood at its tip, most probably Anabel's.
Espeon wanted to attack but was worried sick for her trainer as well.
Ash froze. The scene he saw right now was a very familiar and horrifying scene. He had nightmares about it after someone hit his mother the same way on the head. The reason she was in a coma right now.
Ash clenched his fists. His aura flaring inside him. 'Not this time,' he thought, running towards them.
Dan raised the crowbar once again with a murder look in his eyes, making sure to finish her off this time.
They were far from Ash. It was impossible for him to reach their in time. So he used his aura to boost his speed and in a flash he was right behind Dan.
Dan pulled the crowbar behind his head before someone pulled it away from him. He turned around, willing to give this person a piece of his mind. However, he stopped.
Ash's blood shot eyes were piercing through Dan's mind. He couldn't move all of a sudden as he looked back at Ash.
Ash brutally swinged the crowbar at Dan in an inhuman speed, smashing his skull in the process as he dropped on the floor, dead.
Anabel didn't seem to notice it because of the pain she was feeling. Ash noticed her and immediately his anger vanished. He called out his Gardevoir.
"Hey Anabel? Anabel?! Ash said worriedly as he supported her to stand.
"A-ash? Wh-what happen- arghhh!" she felt pain once again, pressing her hand against her throbbing head.
"Hold on. I will get you help right now." Ash said as calmly as possible.
"Master? What can I do to help?" the embrace asked, sensing the urgency of the situation.
"Teleport us to Anabel's room. It will be tough for you, so borrow some of my aura," Ash said as Gardevoir gave a nod.
Pikachu got on Ash's shoulder and Espeon brushed against her trainer's leg, worried for her.
Ash could hear faint sounds of a helicopter and a couple of Land Cruisers, before all of them disappeared instantly from the spot.