Chapter Text
How long has it been since the day I parted with him? For anyone else, it’s a little over three years, but it felt more like ages in my mind, after everything I had been through. Hoenn had at least been a blast, to say the least, my background as a Pokémon Performer in Kalos that defined my dream and who I was as a Trainer had made the world of Pokémon Contests somewhat less of the hassle I at first envisioned. My fourth Contest Ribbon had come from a close-shave victory against a certain Coordinator that I had met a few days into my journey through the region and said she knew the same person I did. She went on to say the two had been Contest icons in Hoenn, even splitting their last Ribbon on a draw, which was something I kind of wish I tried doing if I ever was given the chance.
As for now, I had sat alone in the Pokémon Center simply admiring in silence that fourth Ribbon I got mere hours ago, interrupted by the five-tone B-B-B-G♯-E jingle and Nurse Joy reporting, “Serena Y. Gabena, your Pokémon have been restored to full health!” The ring was almost enough to snap me off my seat, to be honest, and so I quickly rushed to pick up my Poké Balls with a quiet thank you to the Nurse, only to run into the girl a few steps later. “Hey Serena, thought you were gonna stay here after the Contest,” she said in the usual light-hearted mood I came to knew her for.
“Oh, uhm…right, May.” I replied, chuckling to the side, “The Center fee just rose high enough that I can’t afford it, so, perhaps I can crash at your place?” We spent most of our time traveling on separate ways while still staying in touch, though any time we were together I was always hosting our shelter for the night. The girl shrugged and said, “Why not? I’ve got better snacks at my place anyway.” and tugged my hand out of the building with a wide smirk along her face.
Our walk through the small town had been mostly silent, not that it bothered either of us. Something about the dim-lit streetlamps in the black sky captivated us a little to stray away from any sort of chatter. Eventually, of course, that silence would have been broken a few more blocks down the road, where at the crosswalk May gave me some news that would easily throw me off, “So, you heard they gave you an application form for the Santalune Journal in Kalos?”
I looked at her in slight disbelief almost pretending I didn’t hear her. “Wait, they want me for the Journal?”
“Yeah, your looks and savvy would be perfect for them!”
“But…I’m still a Coordinator. I’m still a Performer. I can’t just give that up for a simple journalism job.”
“Who said you had to give that up? It’s not like you won’t get a break there.”
“R-right…”
“Besides, everyone already knows your real reason for doing the Coordinator thing.”
“What reason?”
“Come on, you know. It’s because you wanted to try impressing him .”
“Impressing who?”
“Him. Ash.”
I stopped in place. That name…Ash…Ash Ketchum. It always buzzed through my mind like a Cutiefly in a flower patch. He was an interesting character, I’m sure you (if anyone’s reading through this) had already figured that out. I hadn’t spoken to him since we last parted ways at the end of our journey through Kalos, yet he always remained there in my heart, someone I knew I was willing to come back to. I sighed and replied, “What does Ash have to do with this?”
“Well, I dunno if you know, but he’s seen a lot of things with a lot of people, and I’m not just talking about when I traveled with him,” May explained, “First I heard of him, it was when my brother Max saw him in the Johto League. We then met in Sinnoh once where I met another strong Coordinator. Last I heard from him, he was somewhere in the Unova region, that kid’s just been everywhere, and I’m sure you’d actually get to know him well if you ever came across a single person that saw him too.
In the back of my mind, I knew May was right. I saw him by my side, and I saw what he could do, not just on the battlefield but more importantly off it. He spoke with a pure heart and the experience of a sage enlightening almost anyone in his path. Maybe with that in mind, I was a little wrong about him, that I just didn’t know enough about him to truly call him someone I cared most. Looking down and hesitating, I finally declared with a heavy breath, “Fine, I’ll take the job.” I know I was hooked on the idea the moment I heard Ash’s name, but I was beyond willing to check out any other region I could reach anyway.
“Great! I’ll let ‘em know ASAP.” May responded with a wink before continuing our path to the hotel, running a little to force me to hurry behind her. A few hours later I was already in bed, pajamas and all, staring out onto the window beside me, May sleeping on the bunk under me. The starry night had already been coated in clouds, with the only lights coming from the same streetlamps below. All I think of as long as I was awake was Ash and whether or not I was ready for my new gig, asking simple things as, “What did Ash see that I didn’t?” “How did he manage to earn so much trust and strength for so long?” “How could I follow on that exact same road as he did?”
“How could I love him again?”