Amourshipping : One Day Off

Chapter 3

The training that Ash and Serena went through had its ups and downs. Serena's image of what she wanted was simply not matching up with what Fennekin was capable of. 

"No, no, not like that, Fennekin! You need to spin around on your back legs when the fire comes down, not on all fours. It looks like you're chasing your tail if you do that." Serena told her partner Pokémon. 

"Fenn Fenne..." 

Ash scratched the back of his head. "Fennekin tried, and she got dizzy. " 

"So we'll have to come up with a way to come around that as well?" Serena asked. 

"Probably." 

Serena sighed. "This felt so much easier the first time..." 

"You set a great debut, so they'll be expecting you to out in a doubly big show for your nex-" Clemont put in, before Ash frantically waved his hands to cut him off from finishing his sentence. 

Looking back at Serena, she seemed to be trembling with nervousness. Seeing her like this reminded him of how he felt in his first gym battle. Nervous. A bit sick. 

Fennekin tried to cheer up her trainer. It went and nudged its trainers hands. "Fenne, Fenne Fennekin..." 

"Hey, Serena..." 

Serena got up, and turned to face Ash. The look on her face wasn't one of fear or nervousness, or even remote concern. It was of something Ash hadn't seen on her face before. It was determination, rivaling his own. 

"You don't think that I'm going to give up that easily, do you?" Serena said, with a smile, which seemed to turn her determination into confidence. "I still remember what you said. I won't ever forget it. You never give up 'till its over." 

When Ash first reunited with Serena, he didn't recognize her. He could even remember her. How was beyond him, in retrospect. But when he heard her repeat his "don't give up" phrase, there was little doubt in his mind that he had to have at least known her previously. But back then he hadn't felt what he was now. 

He felt his heart jolt. And he felt something more... he couldn't begin to figure out what. 

Maybe it was his infatuation. But it felt different. Like a sense of... pride. Proud. Was he proud of himself? He told her that when they first met, and she had learnt from it and used it to fuel herself. 

No. He wasn't proud of himself. He was proud of her. Proud that this girl, whom at first seemed so gentle and delicate, was now becoming stronger over the course of time. 

"That's the spirit!" Ash said with a smile of his own. 

He thought to himself, realizing his choice of words. 

Gentle? Delicate? When did he start using these words to describe Serena? He blushed. He felt like he had been caught writing a poem. Gentle and delicate. When had he ever used those words in anything before? 

Having said that, when had he been infatuated like he was before? Was it an infatuation anymore, though? Ash blushed at the thought of the word in his mind. 

"Ash?" 

Ash snapped back into reality when he heard Serena call his name. "Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, sorry." 

Ash scratched his cheek, and thought over what Serena's exact idea was. A synchronized performance. She was going to mimic every move Fennekin made, and vice versa. To do that, they had to be in absolute sync, there could be no room for error. 

Ash sighed. This wasn't gonna be easy. 

It took them a while, but the performance was finally starting to come together. A few simple tweaks, such as making Fennekin use Flamethrower in a spin to the left, then spinning while the flames came down to the right, adding a few bits, and taking other bits away, the performance was finally coming into its own.