A Journey's Link

Chapter 32 - Presentation

"Ash, wake up!" Goh yelled, rocking the sleeping raven-haired trainer back and forth. "Mr. Mime made breakfast, so we need to hurry if we want to make it to Anistar City!" He stopped pushing Ash, as he hadn't shown any signs of waking up, so he decided to go for a last resort.

"Pikachu, are you awake?" Goh asked, tapping on the half-asleep Pokemon. Upon nudging his face a little bit, Pikachu's eyes drowsily opened and looked at Goh in a tired annoyance. "Sorry," Goh said, feeling a little guilty at waking Pikachu up. "But could you use a Thunderbolt on Ash to wake him up?"

Pikachu's ears perked up at this prospect, so he stood up and began charging electricity in his red sacs. "Pika!" Pikachu started, building up energy to shock his sleeping trainer. Goh stepped back, staying clear from the powerful attack. "Chuuuu!"

A large electrical streak of energy went straight towards Ash, electrifying him and causing his hair to poof up in an afro. Ash groaned as he got up from the bed and looked around him in a panicked manner. "Good morning," Goh said sarcastically. Ash looked at Goh and drowsily said, "I barely got any sleep last night..."

Goh shrugged and ignorantly said, "You must've been thinking too much about battling then." He grabbed his bag on the desk and walked out into the hallway, heading towards the kitchen where Mr. Mime was making breakfast. Ash sighed as he recalled the events of his dream. Was it even a dream? he thought, scratching his soot-covered face. It all felt so real.

Azelf's words weighed heavy on Ash's mind as he forced himself out of the bed. It hadn't given much thought to how he viewed Serena or her personality in the past, but the interaction had truly caused him to think in the few minutes he had been awake. He shrugged it off, however, realizing he needed to leave and not worry about it for the time being.

Grabbing his cap and bag, Ash opened the door to the hallway, Pikachu on his shoulder. He didn't want to fall behind Goh so he practically sprinted out the door and ran directly headfirst into something. He clutched his hands to his face where he had impacted the force.

"Ow!" Ash heard the voice belonging to the person and immediately forgot about his injury. "Serena!" He exclaimed, getting up off the ground and making his way over to her. "I'm fine," she said, holding up her hand. "Really."

Ash sighed a breath of relief as he pulled her up off the ground. From this close, Ash could see her deep Cerulean eyes and managed to get lost in them. My love for her? He thought as he continued staring. What does that even mean?

"Ash," Serena said, breaking him out of his thought process. "Oh yeah," he quickly said. "What's up?" Serena looked at him with confusion and just shook her head, asking, "Are you okay?" Ash nodded and smiled, assuring her he was fine. Serena smiled and then asked, "Great! Now, where's the kitchen?"

[-]

"Smells good!" Ash exclaimed, walking into the kitchen where Goh, Chloe, and Professor Cerise sat, already feasting on breakfast and barely saying a word when Ash walked in. Goh swallowed his food and exclaimed, "I agree!", giving Mr. Mime the satisfaction that someone enjoyed his meals to such an extent.

"So, Goh tells me you're finally heading to Anistar City today," Professor Cerise said as Ash and Serena grabbed food and sat down, with the latter being overly thankful as she thought that she was being slightly intrusive by simply sleeping in this building.

"That's right!" Ash exclaimed between large bites of eggs. The way he eats is so barbaric, Goh thought, politely inserting a piece of bacon into his mouth. The Professor laughed at Ash's enthusiasm and stood up from the table. "Wait right here," he said, walking out of the room and towards the main lab area. Ash confusingly looked at Goh, who just shrugged and continued eating his breakfast.