Okay, after a few weeks between working on the other fic, getting distracted by everything under the sun. I managed to put out this chapter. At the current state, everything is going in a clear chronological order with no skipping around and with one event rolling over into another. This probably won't stay that way. But for now, enjoy the arch.

Work on the actual fic this story is simply apart of is making progress. It's going to be called "Dark Divinity" and I have some details about it in my profile. I will attempt to put out the prologue/introductory act of it before I post chapter 3 of this, but it depends on my levels of inspiration.

Anyway I hope you enjoy this chapter. It's not as "fluffy" as the first, but it definitely has more substance.

The sun was the first thing to bother Ash the next morning. In response, he groggily raised a hand over his eyes, regretting that he had never put blinds on that darn triangular window. Slipping in and out of near-sleep state, he was far too comfortable as he was to get up and out of the sun's direct attack, despite all the trouble it would save him. Henceforth, the sun continued its brutal attack, forcing him more and more out of his sleep. Eventually, he had awoken enough realizing that he wasn't as comfortable as he normally was in the morning. Opening his eyes to find out why, he noticed he was still wearing his belt, jeans, and jacket.

Right, Serena and I didn't change out. He recalled as he turned over to bury his eyes in his pillow. It then occurred to him at that moment that there was no sleeping girl off to his side that was there last night. At least it felt that way, he took his right arm out from under himself and reached out to check, realizing he was grasping at vacant half of the bed. The slightest of panic took over as he turned his head and opened his eyes, needing to use his eyes to clarify that the other half of the bed was empty.

"Serena?" He said aloud, but not loud enough for his voice to leave the room. "Where did she go?"

He scrambled to the end of the bed, crawling down the ladder before getting to his feet. He straightened his clothing as he walked out of the room, faintly picking out a smell in the air he couldn't recognize in his grogginess.

"Serena?"

"Downstairs, Ash!" A familiar voice called back up to him. He could practically hear the smile she must've been wearing.

Ash didn't waste a second in walking over to the staircase, he couldn't help but wonder as he descended why she would leave him alone. Perhaps a show she'd like to watch in the morning was on? Or that she get a head start on tending to her pokémon? He didn't take her to be much an early bird, though that didn't mean she slept in a lot either.

He made it to the landing of the stairs that overlooked the living room, which was empty of all except Mr. Mime, who was too busy dusting the shelves to even notice him when the trainer waved.

On top of the building smell of something that was most certainly delicious, Ash could hear the sound of something reminiscent of food sizzling away in the skillet. Had he been more awake, he might've put the pieces together before he tracked down Serena.

When he stepped into the kitchen, the sight before him took him entirely by surprise.

Serena was turned away from him as she loomed over the stove with a spatula in hand, tinkering with something in a skillet. He approached, wide-eyed and baffled, until he was on the left of her, noticing that the skillet was chock full of scrumptious-looking bacon and five over-easy eggs.

"Good morning, Ash." Serena said in a sing-song tone without looking towards him. "Sorry if I made you worried." She flopped ten strips of bacon down onto a paper towel arrangement that was right next to a gratuitous stack of buttered toast on the counter. "I just woke up early and thought you'd like to wake up to breakfast."

Ash just watched silently as his girlfriend picked up the skillet and brought it over to an empty plate beside the stack of bacon and toast, sliding the eggs down on the large ceramic plate, not one of them breaking upon impact. All the while, Ash looked at the assortment of food without uttering a sound.

He looked away from it as Serena turned to face him. Still wearing her outfit from yesterday, but she had on that pink apron she had carried around with her, as well as that large pink bow that always looked good on her, situated near the back of her hair. The two of these things came together into a deadly combination of cuteness. Ash's heart reached critical mass when Serena decided to clasp her hands together and smile brightly up to him.

"I hope I made enough, knowing how much you can eat, I thought this might be sufficient."

It was known to Ash for a while now that Serena knew how to cook, especially when it came to baking, but it hadn't crossed his mind that she'd go out of her way to do something as nice as this for him.

With all of that in mind, his vivid imagination took over. The kitchen faded away from behind Serena before being replaced with a lush cloudscape with the most marvelous blue skies Ash had ever imagined. A moment later, choirs of Swablu and Altaria appeared as if from nowhere to sing the praises of Serena in heavenly hymns in perfect harmony. And if that wasn't enough, a spectacle of light burst out from behind one of the clouds before Ho-oh appears carrying a halo in its beak before placing on the girl's forehead. As it situated itself, the singing crescendo-ed as the behavior of the Swablu and Altaria became all the more antic as they reached the high notes. The whole display was quite… exquisite.

But since that was all going in Ash's mind, in reality, he was simply standing there offering no response to Serena, with his eyes wide and his mouth agape. There was no indication of whether he was happy with Serena's actions, or utterly disgusted. Expectantly, this had a very negative effect on the girl, who took Ash's silence to indicate that there was something horribly wrong.

"Uh, Ash? Is something wrong?" She restated aloud.

As Serena was left in still more silence, an old friend of hers named fear began to creep in. It was becoming all too obvious just all too late.

"Was your mom saving the food for something?" Her voice shook a little. "Were we supposed to just have cereal? Oh my gosh I'm so-"

Luckily for the girl, Ash's silence didn't last forever. Before she could even finish that sentence. The trainer swooped down with arms wide before lifting the girl into the air, causing her to drop the spatula in her hand as she squealed in a mild panic before she realized what was actually going on.

"I'm dating an angel!" The trainer spun her around, almost knocking her into the stove as he did. "I'm dating an honest to God angel!"

Serena, the poor girl, was still very much shocked and unable to form any proper to the compliments as Ash stopped spinning. That's not to say she didn't enjoy the response by her boyfriend, in fact, the whole scene pretty much played out as she had daydreamed about years ago. She was still very much, overwhelmed.

A few moments later, she was being put down to the floor again, Ash releasing himself from the hug, but keeping his hands on her shoulders, the biggest and rather goofy smile spread across his face. Serena felt her whole face go hot, but didn't feel any urge to cover it up.

"Odd," Serena smiled as she lightly scratched scratched the side of her head, "I can't help but get the feeling that you like it."

"Yeah, weird huh?" Ash played along, "and I haven't even taken a bite out of it yet."

Taking that into account, Serena quickly formed an idea. "Well, if you can't wait to get to the table to try some…" She trailed off as she took her other hand to grab one of the slices of bacon. She hovered it just centimeters away from Ash's mouth, who watched it for a second amusingly before lunging forward. His chompers snagged a good third of the slice before it broke off. Serena giggled at his antics before bringing the rest of the strip a little further away from Ash; a little closer to herself. This time, Ash seemed a little more interested in looking at Serena over the bacon, but nevertheless, he lurched forward and bit down on some more, tearing about half of what remained, as Serena yanked it back once more.

The look on Ash's face - with some bacon hanging out - couldn't be more telling of his understanding of what was going on. He watched as Serena was now practically hovering the bacon in front of her mouth with that little smile her that said everything she might have cared to say.

Getting an idea of his own, Ash decided to play things out a little differently that Serena may have intended. He took his left arm to reach up and lightly grab Serena's wrist, gently moving it away from in front of her. She gasped, surprised at the turn of events before she felt Ash's other hand land on her shoulder, glancing over to it before looking back at Ash. Suddenly, he was just an inch away before he moved in on her lips, feeling her body stiffen up. A few seconds of lip-locking, and Ash's left arm let go of her wrist to move up and slip what remained of that slice of bacon out of her hand. With it in his grasp, he backed off, getting a good look at Serena's face, who had lost pretty much all of the composure she had just a few seconds ago. Proud of his accomplishment, Ash threw what was left of that bacon strip in his mouth, chewing it down as Serena fumbled.

"Man," Ash said with food in his mouth, "You're acting like we haven't kissed before."

"I…" Serena tried to say something, anything. Why am I acting like this?! She demanded an answer from herself. That hand on her wrist, she had willfully complied with it but the way Ash directed her just… did she like that?

She straightened herself and her composure before looking up at Ash objectively. "Let's just eat."

She quickly grabbed the eggs and brought them to the table, Ash lagged behind as he balanced the stack of toast on one hand while wrapping the bacon up in the paper towels before bringing them over. Ash - somewhat confused - followed right behind her as she took the end seat. Serena trying her hardest to keep her composure, but she failed miserably to stop herself from blushing like a schoolgirl. It was the darn summer camp all over again, except this time, Ash was fully aware of her embarrassment - or whatever she was truly feeling - and that only made things worse.

A small plate slid in front of Serena by a darker hand that clearly belong to Ash, a second later a fork and a cup came down before it was quickly filled two-thirds the way up with milk. She looked up to him,the boy noticed her gaze and smiled warmly back at her before sitting down himself, never taking his eyes away from her as he did. He seemed to take no care in pursuing her odd behavior, something she couldn't be more grateful for.

She was also grateful that he remembered her love of milk over any other drink in the morning.

"So Serena, what did you want to do today?" Ash said as he grabbed four slices of the toast, silently praising her for having buttered both sides.

She turned and looked at him quizzically, the blush on her face began to fade slowly. "I didn't think to think of anything." She admitted. "I kinda thought you already made plans."

"Nope." The trainer said resoundingly as he drop two eggs on his toast. "But I can think of something now."

The trainer put a finger to his chin as he stared off into space, tapping it a few times, his face brightened up a few times before regressing into doubt and conflicting as he reconsidered. Serena waited patiently for his reply while she chewed on some toast.

It took a few long moments - and two slices of toast - but when that lightbulb flickered on in his head. Ash slammed a fist down on the table in excitement, threatening to knock Serena's milk over.

"The beach!" He declared to the house. "The beach south of here is totally worth checking out."

At his words, Serena could practically smell the salty-air already. "That's a great idea, actually. Just one question." She took a quick bite of some toast. "How far away is it?"

"Not far at all." He reassured her. "We could make a trip out of it and walk there, likely get there by late afternoon. We could spend the night on the beach."

Serena's mind raced with romantic scenarios of the camp-out, imagining everything from stargazing to tent-sharing. Already beginning to get that giddy feeling, she couldn't help but smile. "Well, it sounds good to me. Though I think we could opt out walking for something faster. And then have both days to spend on the beach."

"Faster? Like a bike?"

"Almost there." Serena took the last bite of her toast before turning her attention to the egg on her plate.

"Y'know, Serena," Ash spoke up, "you should put that egg on your toast. It's far more delicious that way."

"But I just had my third slice. I honestly don't need anymore."

"Oh no," Ash leaned over, grabbing another slice from the stack. "That's no excuse to miss out on this." He lifted the fork out of her hand before using it stack the egg on top of the toast. Picking it up in his hand, he hovered it in front of her face.

"C'mon," Ash smiled widely, "you know you want to."

If anyone else in the world had done what Ash just did, she would be screaming bloody murder. However, this was Ash, and the smell of the toast as it practically rubbed up against her nose combined with the cute look he was giving her was just too much. She leaned forward and took a good bite out of the combo, scraping a portion of the yoke. The effect of the food was felt almost immediately on her tastebuds, her eyes closing almost instinctively as her body went into overdrive hoping to savor every bit of it.

How had she not done this before? For such a mundane difference, it never crossed her mind. It feels odd that her mind had denied her such a simple pleasure for so long.

Then again, if it hadn't, she wouldn't be enjoying this moment with Ash.

Worth it.

The smile on Ash's face grew with her own. Chuckling as some of the yoke began to drip down her chin, causing her to flush before she reached for a napkin, turning away from Ash as if it was almost scandalous to have been a little sloppy.

Gosh, she's adorable. Ash thought to himself. "Amazing, huh?"

The girl nodded furiously. "I'm never going back."

"You two are so cute."

The hairs on the back of Ash's neck stood straight up as he heard that voice. He jerked himself around in his chair - with both him and Serena facing the same direction - to see that a certain brown-haired lady was at the edge of the kitchen clutching the morning paper between her hands.

"Mom?!" Ash's face flushed with red, matching Serena's own. "How long have you been standing there?"

Delia, the queen of composure and the mistress of humiliation, just smiled at the two of them. "Oh, just since you yelled out that she was an angel."

What the! Ash screamed internally. How does she manage to go unnoticed for so long?!

"Umm…" Serena tried to find something to say. She never felt more embarrassed in her life. She attempted to regain what was left of her dignity. "Did you, uh… want some of the breakfast I made, Mrs. Ketchum?

"Oh no, I'm perfectly fine, Serena. I'm sure my Ash is still rather hungry, aren't you sweetie?"

She's actually doing this to me. Ash's embarrassment levels were reaching critical mass. He reached a hand up to his head to pull down his hat, only to realize it wasn't there.

"Y-yes mom." Ash decided his best option was to look towards the floor. Hoping the proper reply would've been the quickest way to get her to leave.

"Well, good." She smiled in that teasing tone of hers that Ash knew too well. "I'll be in the living room folding your underwear, should you need me."

As the ego-crusher in pink walked out of the room, still smiling to herself in triumph, the young couple slowly turned to look at each other.

"Is she always like-"

"-Yeah." Ash cut her off, still embarrassed and showing it. "All the time, especially around important company."

"Wow…" Serena emphasized emphatically. "That sounds pretty rough."

Ash fell into the urge to rub the back of his head sheepishly. "Yeah… but you get used to it, eventually."

"Really?" Serena cocked an eyebrow. "You looked pretty embarrassed there, for someone who's 'used to it'."

"Huh? What does that have anything to do with it."

...What? Serena looked at him incredulously, leaning forward in her chair as if to inspect him for defects. "Ash, are you aware of what that statement implies?"

"Hey, I handled that far better than I used to." He clarified. "She used to embarrass me all the time back during my school days. I'd get so frustrated that I'd wind up running out of the room while she went on like it was nothing out of the ordinary."

Serena giggled at the imagery. "I'd pay money to see that."

Ash pondered that statement, rubbing his chin mischievously as he did. "Who knows, I might just act it out for you."

With her interest increasing, Serena leaned further in. "Really?"

"Sure," Ash grinned before he stuck out his hand, "five bucks!"

Serena was left dumbfounded for the longest two seconds of her life before she realized the punchline. "Ash!" She playfully shoved the chuckling trainer.

"Hey, you said you'd pay!" Ash defended himself, laughing at her in good fun.

Serena harumphs, crossing her arms in an irritated fashion which only succeeded in causing Ash to inwardly d'aww at her big-girl-pants antics. The more Ash smiled, the more irritated she looked, and henceforth, Ash smiled all the more. It was quite frustrating.

Tired of looking at that smile that would surely break her any second now, she turned away with a profound huff, suddenly finding that the fridge looked very interesting. She knew Ash was just playing around, but after years of dealing with Milleifui, and many more still to come, she was done.

She felt Ash poke her in the back, trying to incite some kind of response from her. She was almost ready to bite back when she thought she had heard him utter the word 'overreacting' but she wasn't having any of it. At least she thought she wasn't, because it was after the poking ceased that she felt his breath on her ear. Tensing up on reflex, she felt entirely conflicted as to whether she should deny or allow him.

A moment later, she felt his arms snake around her sides and connect at her waist. Her initial urge was to jump up from her chair, but the contact was having the same effect on her as it did just all of five minutes ago when the trainer had grabbed her wrist. Once again, she felt the desire remain submissive as his head came to rest on her shoulder, and the irrational voice in the back of her head that told her to take control was drowned out.

"Y'aren't mad at me. are you?" Ash said airily.

His tone of voice sounded like something out of some of her favorite love songs. She felt all-too inclined to give him a proper response, which lead to her turning her head towards his, their noses rubbing against each other as Serena looked into his auburn eyes. "Of course not, Ash." She said as her blush returned. "Guess I kinda overreacted there. I'm sorry."

"It's alright." Ash's forgive-and-forget nature once again shone through. One of the many reasons Serena had come to love the boy for. "So, shall we start getting ready for the beach?"

"Ash," Serena began, "you haven't even finished eating yet."

Caught up in his romantic swing, Ash's earlier desire for food - and lots of it - came roaring back at the girl's words. Still holding Serena, he turned to look at the stack of toast, bacon, and eggs that was being neglected.

"Oh, right."

That's it for now. A big thanks to everyone who has read this fic so far, and a bigger thanks to you who have reviewed, I embrace criticism, so lay it on me if you have complaints.

Again, Dark Divinity is next - the reason this fic exists in the first place. I hope there are some of you out there who have been waiting for another long adventure fic with some shipping as well. I may just have what you're looking for.