Amourshipping : One Day Off

Chapter 10

"Oh man, this was a bad idea..." Ash said with a nervous sigh. 

Leaning against a tree, he looked out to the lake that the Pokémon center had a great view of. In the moonlight, it sparkled and shimmered, and the stars and the moon reflected on its surface. Ash smiled at this natural sight of beauty. It was one of his traveling rules - enjoy the little things. Traveling rules 1 through 25 included training or winning battles. 

Ash had never been one to back down. It was a rare sight to see Ash forfeit anything he ever did in anything, and he always did so with very good reason, such as preventing his Pokémon from being harmed. He had always gone on until the bitter end. 

Now however, he was beginning to have second thoughts about what he was doing here. He had arranged to meet Serena here in a few minutes, and he planned to confess to her. He had gone through six regions, fought countless battles, caught multiple Pokémon, been in dangerous situation after dangerous situation, and had nearly died on occasion. That kind of stuff didn't affect him, yet he was afraid of telling a girl that he liked her. He couldn't decide if he was either a dense moron, or didn't have his priorities straight. 

He hadn't even brought Pikachu along with him. He was still asleep in Ash room. This has been one of the few times Ash had been tempted to put Pikachu back in his Pokéball, at least for a while, out of concern of what was going to happen here tonight. He knew Pikachu could sense how he felt, and depending on how tonight went, he could sense Ash's pure despair. He knew Pikachu worried about him, just like he worried about Pikachu. Forcing him into his Pokéball might avoid some harsher issues later down the line. But no, he decided he would leave Pikachu alone to sleep. He probably wouldn't forgive Ash if he made him return anyway. 

Midnight rapidly approached, but Ash found it was crawling up on him slowly. This was one of the times that time seemed to stretch out for such a long time over such a short period of time. Ten seconds felt like minutes. Ash wasn't new to nerves. He had felt nervous for Gym battles, league matches, tournament battles, and the likes. But that came with a sense of excitement too. This felt more like dread. 

"Ash?..." 

Ash turned his head quickly, seeing Serena stood there. She had arrived. Her sudden appearance made Ash jump for a second, but when he realized it was her, he calmed down quickly. 

"Oh, hey. Serena." Ash replied to her. Though it wasn't the best time to realize, he noticed how cute she was right now. He had no idea what made him notice this now. 

"You okay?" 

"Yeah. I'm fine. Just... Checking out the view." Ash said, pointing out the view that stood in front of them. 

Serena turned to see the sight for herself. She admitted, it was quite the beautiful piece of scenery. The way the water reflected and shimmered the shape of the moon and stars above. 

Inside, she was also very nervous about her own plans. She was ready to tell him, but she felt like she knew what this meeting was about to begin with. She wasn't sure if she should make the first move, or if she should wait on Ash, if this even was what the meeting was for. She knew she could be getting excited and expecting nothing, and that she should move first... But the part of her that still feared rejection was still there. 

This was everything she ever wanted. Her crush, her love, the chance to be his, to not feel lonely anymore, was right here. The chance was staring her in the face. 

"It's a... Pretty view, isn't it?" She nodded in agreement. For some reason, it reminded her of a showcase she once saw. She couldn't remember anything else about the showcase. The performer, the Pokémon they used, how old she was when she saw it, nothing. She only remembered the end result, which was a testament to the lasting effect it had had on her. This view however, was different. It was more beautiful, and she knew that she wouldn't ever forget this sight.