Chapter Text
It was a warm afternoon in Vermillion city, with two boys sitting next to each other, enjoying the sunshine, those two boys were Ash and Goh, two research partners at Cerise Laboratory.
Ash would be the one starting a conversation with Goh, starting to getting bored by staying quiet (Ash is quite talkative) he would tell Goh the following: "Hey, Goh, doesn't the sun just feel great? We're here in a beautiful park with Pokémon, it feels nice to relax after having so many battles..."
Goh would respond with a nod, casually reading Pokédex entries like he always does, then he would ask Ash a question being: "Hey, Ash, why don't you share some of your memories when travelling?"
Ash, after hearing the question would get a series of flashbacks, with his friends, he would chuckle then say: "Sure! I'll tell you a funny story: one time when my friends and I were travelling across Kalos, Clemont's sister Bonnie would always tease him of finding a wife, she would propose to random girls, even Gym Leaders! Clemont would get embarrassed and use his Aipom arm to drag her back, we would all laugh together when it happened, except for well, Clemont of course..."
Goh would laugh a bit before stating: "Wow, Ash, you sure have met a lot of people! That story was the last one I could think coming from you!"
Ash would give a smile before returning to a neutral expression, he had something on his mind that he would reveal to Goh in the following sentence: "Hey, Goh, you know, every time I travelled across a region, we were always 3 or 4, being only 2 makes me kind of sad, maybe we could get someone else to join us...?"
Goh would understand his feeling, saying: "Yeah, well we do have Chloe, right?"
Ash would respond with: "Yeah, but she isn't really permanent, she goes only sometimes. I'm talking about someone who would be more permanent, y'know?"
Goh would say: "That's true, and I would also like another member, having more friends is always fun! But, where do we find that person?"
Ash would think for a bit, but he thinks about the perfect person, someone who'd be very excited to see him again: "Not a problem, I found the person, let's go to Hoenn!"
Goh would be slightly surprised that he found someone that quick, normal Ash would take a few days (In actuality weeks, but he respects him) to think about it, so he'd respond with: "That quick!? I hope you found a good person and didn't just pick randomly, after all, you usually aren't the best at these situations..."
Ash would smile at the comment, as he knew his friend had no idea who it would be, they then made the preparations to go to the airport.
Before leaving, they would announce the news to the Professor and Chloe, who fully supported the idea, as it benefited them both.
Ash and Goh would reach the airport on time (Wow, Ash finally reached somewhere in time) as they would wait for the flight.
As Ash was sitting in the waiting room, he got a memory in the airport, remembering someone whom he considered special. They would both board the flight and Goh would start asking some questions.
Goh would ask Ash: "Hey, Ash, why are you so quiet?"
Ash would respond with "Huh? Oh, um, I guess I'm excited to meet that person after such a long time"
Goh would offer a smile, trying to guess who could it be.
After some time, they'd eventually land in Lilycove City.
During this time, a certain girl was about to preform on stage, she had gotten pretty famous by now. Her name? Serena.
Before she preformed though, the host, Vivian, would announce that this will be the last contest in 3 months. The reason was that they were going to renovate the venues, due to an influx of people watching the contests.
Serena, obviously disappointed, was sad, but there wasn't any time for that: It was her time to preform.
Serena would win the contest as she is experienced and talented (She reached the finals of the Masterclass, she knows a thing or two), meanwhile, the two friends would arrive outside the venue, it was just after the contest, so they start searching for that person they, sorry, Ash wanted to travel with again. (If it isn't obvious it's Serena)
After some time, they'd finally find her, Serena wouldn't notice until Ash cried her name, for a second she thought she was daydreaming, but she'd soon realize that it was actually Ash.
She was quite excited to meet Ash again, but she had to hide her emotions.
Ash would then come up to her and say: "Um, hi Serena..."
He met her after a very long time, and he kind of just came out of the blue to talk to her, he was nervous that Serena wouldn't accept his offer.
Serena would respond with: "H-hi Ash, how are you?"
Serena too was nervous, I mean, she met Ash after such a long time, she didn't want to leave a bad taste.
Ash would respond with "I'm great! How about we go somewhere else, there's too much noise to talk here" After that statement he would smile, to come off as friendly.
Serena would nod, accepting the offer, the three (Ash, Goh and Serena) would go towards route 121, after they would arrive, Ash finally found the courage to ask her the question, he didn't want to ask it immediately, as he wanted to know what Serena has done without him.
Ash would restart the conversation with: "So, Serena, what did you do after we stopped travelling together?"
Serena would smile then answer with: "Well, I've still been doing the contest, I'm doing pretty well! What about you? Are you still battling Gyms?" She would chuckle at the end of her answer, she can't hold in her excitement.
Ash would say: "Actually, no, I'm in the World Coronation series, it's a lot of fun, I'm also doing great!" He would then go on explaining what the World Coronation series is.
Serena would listen to him then ask him a question, a weird question in Ash's book (because he's the densest individual that exists) it would be: "So, um, Ash, how do you think I look? I changed my outfit after I moved to Hoenn." She would then sweep her hair.
Ash, rather confused would say: "Um, yeah you look... good" He didn't want to sound flirty, but he also didn't want to upset his friend.
Serena would blush at the comment, just like she always does when Ash comments about her looks, she would then thank him for the comment.
Goh was enjoying the moment they were spending with each other, he knew how it felt when you reunite with your friend, so he would just smile at both of them, listening to the conversation.
Ash enjoyed his time with Serena, but he knew he had to ask, it was the reason they came here!
So, Ash would tell his friend: "Hey, um, Serena, I wanted to ask you something..." Serena would smile, expressing that she was listening, Ash would then continue with "W-would you like to travel with m-me again? I mean, I know you're probably very busy with contests and stuff, but I want to travel with you again, it would be a blast, it's your choice, if you don't want to, I understand, but I think it would be cool if you joined us"
Serena would take a deep breath, then respond with...