Changing- An Amourshipping Story

Chapter 16: Hope

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-Serena's POV-

The day has finally come. It is Sunday, at long last. I am on my way to the cafe to meet Ashy-I mean Ash. Why did the name Ashy suddenly pop up in my mind? I find myself in a bit of a predicament here though. How exactly should I tell him that my life is basically this story? I don't even know. He doesn't need to know that. Not yet at least. When I get into the cafe, I see Ash wearing a plain white shirt with black pants. It fits him quite nicely. Wait what!? Anyways, he is sitting at a chair, and has pulled one out for me. I take a seat, and he asks me if I want anything to drink. I simply ask for a coffee, and he gets a vanilla bean espresso. "Alright, Ms. Yvonne, tell me, how well do you know good romance plots?"  I am a good writer, and I do love a good romance story, but I'm not exceptional. "I am fairly decent, not too too good though." He nods in agreement. "The same with me really. I really started to get into this stuff after....., well...after...." "You know you don't have to tell me."  "I know, but if we want to be able to work together well, we should get to know each other." I nod. He makes a fair point. "I will start. Serena Yvonne. I will tell you.....everything." 

"I was 6 years old and was celebrating my birthday. Me and my friends were celebrating, while my parents were making a cake. But then, a man named Giovanni burned down my house and my parents died that day. They died on my birthday, Serena." I look up and see that his face has become sad, his smiles, they must have been a mask. A mask to hide his true identity. But he wasn't done. No. He was far from done.

 "Life never really felt the same after they died. Luckily, me and my brother had an uncle, who we lived with for the next 4 years, until I could become a trainer. During this time, I had very few friends. But then, I met a girl who changed my life for the better. She was, and still is the love of my life. I never got her real name though, but I always have had a nickname for her. But that doesn't matter now. Anyways, the girl couldn't stay that long. She was only here for a short period of time, before she had to depart back to her home region. I haven't seen her since." I see him go from sad to happy when talking about the girl, but then back to sad when he mentions she left. He must truly care about her. 

"When I became a trainer, I swore I would do everything I could to take down the person who killed my parents, and make sure he got a lifetime sentence to jail. I don't believe in violence as the first answer. Eventually, after a year of training, me and my brother Red took down Giovanni, and he was in jail for life. Me and Red decided to go to the Sinnoh region. We wanted to compete in the league against each other, so we split up. I made a friend in a girl named Sophia. But one day, one day S-Sophia s-she she got captured by Pokémon hunters. She was murdered in front of my eyes Serena! The day, it still haunts me more then any other day. Except for maybe one. Unlike my parents, I witnessed her death. There was also a Froakie that was trapped in a cage, which they planned to sell. I rescued Froakie with my Pikachu, Infernape, and Charizard. You might recognize him as the Froakie that travels with me. It turned out that Froakie's parents were killed by the Pokémon hunters, as they were seen as too weak. Me and Froakie only got through it because we had each other, and I wish that's where the story ended. I wish. I got the gym badges and entered the league. I managed to get a decent placing. Then, two and a half years ago, my brother and I planned to move to Kalos. There-there was a problem with the plane. We were going down too fast. We were informed that we were all going to die. And everyone did. Everyone except for me and my Pokémon. M-my Froakie saved my life using his frubbles. But my brother and his girlfriend died on the plane crash. I survived with only a few broken bones. After a few weeks in the hospital, I was better. At least, physically I was. Mentally I wasn't. At such a young age, I had lost everyone important to me. I attempted suicide. And my Froakie saved my life. Again. He caught the knife with his frubbles. He made me realize that there was more to live for. I still had all of my Pokémon, and I still loved the girl from summer camp. I started to go to a school. Unfortunately for me, I was bullied. After a few months at each school, I moved to a new one. Each of them produced the same results. Until I came here. I am seeing different results. Better results. And I truly hope I will be happy here. I truly do. And I hope I can find the girl again."

I cried into his chest. No one should have to live that nightmare of a life. I asked him a question, "How did you manage to bear all the pain and be able to smile? How were you able to keep going?"

He smiled sadly at me. "Hope," he said. "Hope is a truly remarkable thing. I hope things will change. I hope things will get better. I hope I will truly be happy again. And most of all, I hope I will be able to meet the girl I fell in love with again. Now, if you don't mind, can you tell me your story? I want to help you. I truly do. I believe that you deserve a second chance. I see you have already started to change. You used to push me to the ground, and yet here we are, speaking kindly to each other. So please. Tell me about yourself."

And I told him. I told him everything.

"I used to know a boy, but then I had to leave him. I love that boy beyond limits. He is my only true love. I was miserable that I had to leave, and my mom couldn't cheer me up for 5 months. And then he came. He said he could make things better. And what's horrible, is, for a long time, I believed him. I became more and more distant with my mom and dad, as I became closer and closer to the boy. His name is Calem. He offered to show me the light, and I never realized it was an illusion. I became cold. But I thought he was helping me. When I was twelve, he said he wanted to become my boyfriend. And being the fool that I was, I believed it would help me. Boy was I wrong. He changed me. Changed me, so I could never see the young innocent girl again as I was replaced by a monster. He made me into a bully. And what's horrible, is i thought it would help. I thought it would make me invincible. Perfect. And then, just last Saturday, my sister died. If I could turn back time, I would never have met Calem. I would still be a happy, loving girl. My biggest regret in life, was that I put my loved ones to the side, and couldn't realize until it was too late, as I realized what I became just after my sister died. But the pit is too deep to jump out of all at once. Calem won't let me go easily. I need to find a way to break up with him, and make it so he can't harm me or my loved ones anymore. Either directly or indirectly. In the meantime, I want to change. I want to change back to my old self. And I'm trying. I'm really trying, Ash."

"I will help you Serena. You ARE a good person. You just made a mistake, and we all make mistakes sometimes. I want to help you and I want to be your friend."

 "Do you really mean it Ash?!" 

"Of course I do Serena."

And, not thinking about the consequences, I dived straight into his arms, happy to have a friend again. "Thank you so much Ash."

"It's alright Serena. Now, should we get started on our project?"

Oh right. The project exists.

-End of Chapter 16-

So now Ash and Serena are friends. I somehow managed to get them to tell everything about their pasts to each other, and yet they still don't know they were the girl/boy. And, now I have to figure out how to write about the project. Well, that will be fun. I hope you enjoyed this long, and in my opinion, emotional chapter. I will see you in chapter 17!

-Jackson