The Road to our Destiny

Chapter 6

The rest of the day was mostly uneventful after Serena met Timothy, Electchu, and Coovers, and then Ash came with Scott to convince Timothy to compete in the Battle Frontier. Since then, she went back to Delia's house with Ash and Scott, where the latter started telling her stories about when Ash competed in the Battle Frontier. Serena was amazed at how Ash learned so much and overcame the challenges he faces with every Frontier Brain he faced. She had a warm smile on her face that just kept growing the more she heard of Ash's past adventures. Delia noticed as she was making dinner later that day how Serena was holding on to her ribbon again whenever Scott was talking about something suspenseful happening during one of Ash's battles.

But as the day went on, Serena noticed Ash looking deep in thought during the remainder of Scott's visit. Once in a while, he would join in the storytelling by commenting on how he figured something out or made a mistake, but as soon as Scott retook control of the conversation again, he went back to acting deep in thought. Serena wondered what was going on in his mind that would get him so focused. She has seen him think deeply in thought before for a gym battle, but it was clear to her that something else was up.

Later that night, Scott finally left, and Ash, Delia, and Serena decide to go to bed. Unfortunately, as the night went on, Serena found herself unable to go to sleep. She tosses and turns, but she doesn't feel the least bit tired. She sighs sadly, accepting that she's worried about what might be troubling Ash.

Suddenly, she hears one of the bedroom doors open from the other side and hears someone walk down the halls, go downstairs, and exits the house. Curious, Serena gets up and looks through her bedroom window to find Ash walking away from the house in his pajamas. Curious and determined to find out what is going on, Serena quietly leaves her room, goes downstairs, and walks outside to follow him. She keeps at a distance, curious if he's going anywhere in particular but looks perplexed when she follows him to the beach, and he sits down on the sand. Serena keeps watching him for a moment before she takes a deep breath and decides to walk over to him. When she's only a couple feet away, she realizes that he hasn't noticed her and decides to speak.

"Ash?"

The raven-haired boy snaps out or his train of thought and turns his head to look at the honey blonde girl.

"Oh, hey, Serena," he greets half-heartedly. "Why are you awake?"

"I couldn't sleep," Serena answers. "What are you doing over here?"

Ash frowns and turns his head back to face the ocean.

"Guess I couldn't sleep either, so I decided to come here," he says quietly.

Serena frowns and decides to sir next to Ash.

"What's the matter?" She asks.

Ash turns his head to face Serena and says with a fake smile, "Nothing's wrong."

Serena's frown deepens, and she glares at Ash.

"Ash, I know you're lying to me," she says firmly. "Something's been troubling you since you made that deal with Timothy."

Ash's fake frown disappears, and he looks down without saying anything for a moment.

"Well, it's just...did I ever tell you what happened when I last competed in the Indigo League?" He asks.

Serena winces and glumly answers, "No, you haven't. In fact, up until dinner, you've never told me about your past travels before you came to Kalos."

This time, it's Ash turn to wince.

"Really? I'm sorry about that, Serena," he says.

Serena gives him a small smile, knowing he means it. She decides to sit down next to Ash as he turns his head to face the ocean again.