Destiny Rebirth

Reigniting the Amour Flame

Shout out to KurumiErika, of DeviantART, for her artwork above.

Serena raced through the atrium, as she heard the sound of the referee, calling for the fifteen-minute intermission. I don't have a lot of time.

She ducked and dodged through the crowd before she found the stairs that led to the corridors below. She dashed down the stairs and was about to round the corner, which would take her to Ash's locker room.

When suddenly, an arm appeared in front of her. Serena looked up to the security guard, who was blocking her route.

"Can I help you?" he said as he tilted his head forward and looked at her from the top of his glasses.

"Yes please!" Serena panicked. "I-I need to see Aaron!"

"Sorry, ma'am. I cannot let you do that," he said while he maintained his position, in front of the girl. "No one is allowed to see the tournament participants, while they are competing."

"But I-" Serena was interrupted as she heard a voice, behind her, speak up.

"Chuck, let her pass." Serena turned to see the green haired Gym Leader of Saffron City. "Don't you recognize the Kalos Queen? Let her do as she pleases."

"Uh . . . yes. Yes, of course, Sabrina. You may pass," the guard cleared the way for Serena to get through.

Serena took off but turned to wave back at Sabrina. "Thank you, Sabrina," she said before turning back and frantically searching for Ash's door.

She didn't slow down until she found her destination. She took a deep breath before exhaling. She raised her hand up in a closed fist and knocked on the door. She heard a mumble, from the inside, and took it as permission to enter. She slowly opened the door, to see Ash looking at her. The expression, on his face, went from anxiety to shock. Lucario and Pikachu also looked on Serena, with their mouths ajar.

"Se-Serena?"

---

All of a sudden, Ash felt a jolt of electricity, circling through his body. He groaned as he looked to Pikachu, who glared at him.

"Pika pika cha. Pikachu pika pi! Pikachu Pikapi, pi chu pi!" Pikachu shouted in frustration.

"But, it's Serena!" Ash responded. "She wouldn't forgive me, what makes you sure the others will?"

"Pikachu pipi," Pikachu responded quickly.

"But Gary knew the whole time," Ash answered. "He knew and he never gave up. As for Trevor, he discovered the truth, and yet, he came to accept why I must do this. Hell, he even trusted us with his biggest secret about his wife and child. The way that Serena made it out, the rest of them would have given up and lost hope. Look at what happened to her. She had hope, but she still got mad!"

"But you can't just stop fighting," Lucario answered. "If she does love you, then she'll come back and look past that."

Ash looked at the ground. His mind went over what his two companions had said. A sad smile went across his face.

"Thanks, guys. That helped a lot."

He then heard a knock at his door. The small smile turned into anxiety.

No! Not yet! It can't be time to resume the battle already! He mumbled a few words that he hoped would buy him a few more seconds for him, to regain his thoughts.

He turned to see the door opened and revealed the last person that he would have expected. His heart skipped a beat, as adrenaline began to pump and his mind began to race.