The Ketchum Family

Gohing on a Date With Chloe: Part 1

This chapter takes place about a month after the end of the previous part. Ash and Serena travel to Vermilion City to provide some relationship advice to Goh and Chloe. How will our much less mature duo fair? Will they find love or will their hearts be broken?!

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Serena pulled her jacket tightly closed in response to the sudden rush of air caused by Charizard's dive. She kept one hand around Ash's waist and the other shielding her face from the cool autumn air rapidly blowing by. Vermilion City was just below them and they would be landing in less than a minute.

Yesterday, she and Ash had received desperate phone calls from their longtime friends Goh and Chloe. Both of them were afraid that their dating relationship was about to fall apart and they'd reached out, Goh to Ash and Chloe to Serena, hoping that their friends could provide some much needed advice and perspective. The Pallet Town couple had quickly rescheduled things and were now planning to spend two days in Vermilion City, doing what they could for their friends.

Charizard touched down at the edge of the city. Ash thanked him and then recalled him into his Pokéball.

Serena shivered a little and scanned the skyline. Beneath her dark red jacket she was wearing a version of her old Hoenn outfit. The differences were: her charcoal top had full-length sleeves and she was wearing black leggings underneath her red-white skirt. She'd also redone her hair. Her honey colored locks were combined into a pair of braids which started above and just forward of each ear. The braids wrapped around the back of her head, crossed each other and then wove into their opposite number so that the back of her head was circled with a lovely golden braid.

Ash, meanwhile, was wearing a dark blue jacket, a blue shirt with white highlights and blue jeans.

"I sure hope we can help them," she said quietly. "Chloe's asked for help with contests before, but never relationship advice. She sounded pretty desperate."

Ash stepped so he was next to her. "Yeah, same with Goh. He loves talking about Pokémon, but not his personal life. He's never brought it up once before now."

Serena turned to look at Ash. "Well, maybe, with some luck, one day, they'll both be as happy as we are."

Ash smiled and nodded. "Yeah, that would be great."

Serena let out a thoughtful sigh and clapped her gloved hands together. "Well, I guess I'll start heading for Chloe's house."

"Yeah, and I'll head for Goh's," Ash responded.

Serena started to take a step and then leaned back toward Ash, turning to face him as she did so. Ash saw the move and leaned toward Serena. Their lips briefly met in a farewell kiss then both of them took a step back and smiled at each other.

"See you later," Serena said sweetly.

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Chloe stepped quickly from her jewelry box to the mirror on the wall of her room. This was the fourth pair of earrings she'd tried on and she wasn't happy with them either. She stared at her appearance in the mirror, frowned and emitted an unhappy moan. She pulled the tiny, dangling, silver hearts off her ears and replaced them with the golden stars she'd tried earlier. She wasn't happy with this choice, but it was the one she hated the least.

She eyed her dress, a yellow-orange blouse with a dark blue skirt, and rapidly tapped her foot, not entirely convinced the outfit was the correct choice. She thought the colors matched, but there was something missing. She quickly retrieved a brown choker with a gold emblem and fastened it around her neck. She still wasn't happy, but it was better.