Stay

Chapter 1

It was the final week before Ash Ketchum was supposed to return home to Kanto from his journey in the Kalos region. He had participated in the Kalos league not long ago and had come in second place to his rival, Alain. But Ash wasn't disappointed. It had been his best performance by far, and he had only lost by a few seconds. The way he saw it, it was a step in the right direction. Things could only get better from here, right?
"Pika pika," Pikachu, Ash's first Pokemon partner and best friend, said happily. Ash glanced over and saw that the yellow mouse Pokemon was playing with Serena's Sylveon.
"Sylve. Sylveon," Sylveon said, rubbing Pikachu's cheeks with her ribbons.
Ash chuckled as he watched the two friends play. Pikachu and Sylveon had been spending quite a lot of time together over the past few days. He looked over to one of his other Pokemon, Greninja, and saw that he was engrossed in a conversation with Braixen. Just like Pikachu and Sylveon, Greninja and Braixen had grown extremely close.
"Hey, Ash," Serena said, walking up to him.
"Hi, Serena," Ash greeted the honey-haired girl. "Where are Clemont and Bonnie?"
"Clemont's working on another invention," Serena said, rolling her eyes. It was common knowledge that she found Clemont's obsession with his inventions-as well as their tendency to explode every ten seconds-extremely irritating. "And Bonnie went outside to play with Dedenne and Pancham."
Ash nodded and went back to watching the Pokemon couples-was that what they were?-play. Serena followed his gaze, her eyes resting on Braixen's smiling face, a smile tugging at her own lips. There was a flash of something in her eyes, but Ash couldn't quite figure out what it was.
"They look so happy, don't they?" Serena remarked.
"Yeah, they sure do," Ash agreed. "It's nice to see. I haven't seen them look this happy since all the trouble with Team Flare started."
"Well, now that's over with, and you can continue on your journey to become a Pokemon master," Serena said encouragingly, though there was a slight sad note to her voice. "You're leaving next Saturday, right?"
Ash nodded. "Yeah, just another week here and then we'll be off to...."
Then it hit him. They were leaving. Leaving Kalos.
Which meant they were leaving Serena.
Which meant that they were leaving Braixen and Sylveon. Normally Ash wouldn't have given a second thought about this, but something felt different about the friendship between Pikachu and Sylveon and doubly so about the friendship between Greninja and Braixen. He couldn't quite place his finger on it, but something was definitely different. They cared about each other so much; could he really ask them to leave their friends when they were obviously so happy together?
But on the other hand, could he really bear to leave them behind either? Pikachu had been with him since the very beginning; how could he just leave him? And Greninja...while they hadn't known each other as long, they had developed a bond that was nearly as strong as the one between him and Pikachu. Truthfully, if he was going to let his Pokemon stay, then the logical option would be for him to stay as well, especially if one of the Pokemon was his partner. But that would mean giving up on his dream of becoming a Pokemon master, and if there was one thing Ash Ketchum did not do, it was give up.
Then again, something else he never did was make his friends miserable for his own gain. And while he wasn't sure if continuing on his journey with him would make Pikachu and Greninja miserable exactly, he knew they would miss Sylveon and Braixen. A lot.
"Ash?" Serena asked, looking at him in concern. "Is something wrong?"
Ash snapped out of his trance. "Oh, it's nothing," he said quickly. "Just lost in thought, I guess."
Serena didn't push the subject, which Ash was grateful for. He knew he had a tough decision on his hands-to fulfill his dream or abandon it to make his Pokemon happy.
Just continue on your journey, a voice in his head told him. Serena, Braixen, and Sylveon won't be disappearing off the face of the earth. You could always achieve your dream and then return to them.
It was a logical idea-but still, he couldn't ignore the happiness on his Pokemon friends' faces as they played with Serena's Pokemon.