Serena and Ash - Friends From The Start

Chapter Five

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN POKEMON OR ANY OF THE CHARACTERS IN THIS STORY. I DO NOT MAKE ANY MONEY OFF OF THIS STORY, AND NEITHER DOES WATTPAD.

*** THIS STORY MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS OR MAJOR PLOT DETAILS. ***

CHAPTER FIVE

ASH'S POV

Serena extended her hand out to me and pulled me up.

"The sun is starting to set," Serena told me. "We need to go."

I thanked my Pokémon and returned them to their Pokéballs, and then Serena and I started to walk back down the beach to where Clemont and Bonnie were waiting, still holding hands.

The sun was setting over the sparkling water, and it looked amazing.

I turned to Serena, about to comment on how it looked, when she suddenly looked down at the ground and pulled her hand away from mine. My face fell a little. What was wrong?

"Serena?" I asked, concerned. "Is something wrong?"

She looked me in the eyes and shook her head. She smiled, trying to play it off, but I could clearly see there were tears in her eyes.

I stepped in front of her, blocking her from moving forward any further.

Here goes nothing, I thought, and pulled her into a hug. She was stiff at first, but soon relaxed into it and let me.

Eventually, she pulled away. I wasn't sure if it was just the sunset reflecting onto her face, but she looked red. I shook off the thought.

Instead, I focused on cheering her up. I flicked sand onto her leg.

"Hey!" she protested, flicking it back with the toe of her boot. I grinned and ran off, and out of the corner of my eye I could see her taking off running to follow me.

We both reached Clemont and Bonnie, panting. Clemont had a confused look on his face, but decided not to question us.

I looked over at Serena. She scowled at me, but when I grinned at her apologetically the expression on her face softened – and was instead replaced by a small smile.

"Let's hurry up and go already!" Bonnie pouted.

We all laughed and headed off to the Pokémon Centre, where we would rest for the night.

*** TIMESKIP ***

After a massive dinner full of laughter, and celebration, where – as usual – I had stuffed myself full of food, we headed up to our room to go to bed. There were four single beds in our one room, and some sliding glass doors that opened onto a small balcony.

Clemont locked the room door and turned off the lights, and we all got into bed. Pikachu jumped onto my stomach and curled up.

"Goodnight, everyone," Clemont said.

"Night, Clemont," Serena replied sleepily.

"Night," I chimed in quietly.

I closed my eyes, satisfied with the day, and drifted off to sleep.

*** TIMESKIP ***

SERENA'S POV