Chapter 1: Separated

The sun was shining brightly as our heroes trekked along the long road towards Gloria City, the site of Serena's Masterclass showcase, where she was hoping to emerge victorious as Kalos Queen. They'd been travelling since early in the morning, awoken by Ash having one of his routine "crack of dawn" training sessions. Pikachu had used an electro-ball and it had sprayed water from a nearby lake all over their campsite, causing a not so unusual symphony of groans and curses aimed at Ash.

"Can we stop? I'm really hungry," Bonnie complained. The little blonde girl could sometimes be so clever that the others forgot how young she was and that this journey was her first time travelling.

Clemont, Bonnie's older brother, replied, "Yeah, I could use a break too." As usual, he was lagging behind.

"Aw, but we're not too far, are we?" Serena asked. "I was hoping to get there today and sleep in a real bed tonight."

Ash, who of course was way ahead, as was the norm, said, "I think we're still pretty far away, Serena. We probably still have a couple of days of travelling till we get there."

"Ash is right," Clemont said, "Gloria city is kind of in the middle of nowhere. I think it's so they can have maximum space and privacy for the Masterclass showcase."

Serena sighed, "Well if it's going to take that long, I guess we should have a rest then." She pulled out her pokeballs and released Braixen, Sylveon and Pancham. "Let's go rest under that tree by the pond over there. I bet Greninja would like that, Ash." She glanced at Ash and saw his eyes light up. Anything that made his Pokemon happy, made him happy.

"Great idea, Serena. Greninja will love that." He threw up his pokeballs and Greninja, Talonflame, Hawlucha and Noivern all came out. "All right guys, time for a break! Greninja, there's a pond over there that I'll bet you'll love to swim in." His Pokemon happily shouted in glee and ran towards the pond, Pikachu, Ash's partner since Kanto, jumping off his shoulder and joining them.

Clemont and Bonnie, followed by Clemont's Pokemon (Bunnelby, Chespin and Luxray) also ran towards the pond. Dedenne happily shouting, "De de ne!" from Bonnie's bag, next to Bonnie's newest friend, Squishy. Bonnie ran into the pond, not caring about her clothes getting wet, while Clemont started to prepare lunch. "Bonnie!" He yelled, "Why aren't you wearing a bathing suit? You're only going to get cold after."

"Relax big brother," Bonnie replied, "I'll dry off quick enough."

Serena and Ash went over to the tree and sat down next to each other, watching Bonnie play with the Pokemon. Serena couldn't help but notice Ash's hand flat on the ground next to him. She glanced at him watching the Pokemon and smiling and back at his hand. Should I hold it? No, Serena, that would be dumb. He'd think you were crazy, grabbing his hand like that.

Ash had noticed her staring down, but was clearly oblivious to her reasoning. "Something wrong Serena?" He asked.

"Uh...what? No, I'm fine." She scolded herself, knowing she was blushing. He probably thinks I'm crazy. I need to stop looking at him like that.

Ash went back to looking at the Pokemon playing with Bonnie. He was clearly enjoying seeing them so happy. "So do you know what you're gonna do at the Masterclass?"

Serena jumped at the question. She was still thinking about how embarrassed she was. Ash talking to her at the moment was making her way too nervous. And now he was asking things about her showcase. She took a deep breath and managed to calm down. She thought about the question for a second. She'd obviously been practising a lot with her Pokemon and had rough ideas of what they would do, but she hadn't really decided on a plan yet. She knew the Masterclass would be the biggest challenge and that they were going to really test her abilities. She was worried about coming up with a strategy and depending on it too much, only to have to do something completely different that she couldn't prepare for. She voiced her concerns to Ash, "I actually don't. I know it's silly, because it's so close, but I don't know if it's something I can really prepare for like the other showcases. Getting a princess key is probably so different from competing for becoming Kalos Queen. They're probably going to test things I've never done before."

Ash thought about this for a little while. Serena watched him, wondering if he thought she was stupid for her lack of preparation. Then he laughed and said, "That's what I was like before my first Pokemon League battle in Kanto."

Serena smiled, relieved he didn't think it was too serious. "What happened?" She asked.

"I used a Pokemon I had never even battled with before. I was battling on a water field and I needed a water Pokemon. I had a Squirtle who was really strong, but my friends Misty and Brock said I probably needed another. I had caught a Krabby a long time before, but he'd been at Professor Oak's lab the whole time. I was on the phone with Professor Oak and Krabby wanted to say hi. I immediately asked him to send Krabby and everyone suggested I not do it, because Krabby had never battled before. Krabby ended up evolving into Kingler during the battle and won it for me."

Serena listened to him intently as he told her this. She loved hearing it when he talked about his old journeys and his other Pokemon. It was so cool to hear about all the amazing things he'd done in his life between them meeting at that summer camp and her seeing him on the news saving Professor Sycamore's Garchomp. He's done so many amazing things. How can I impress him with my showcase if he's already travelled so far and done so much?

"He was so good! He fought through a whirlpool, used a powerful vice grip, used an awesome crabhammer. I couldn't believe it. And he beat all three opponents!" Ash was clearly loving talking about his past victories. His experiences like the one he was talking about, were the reason he had matured so much. He'd gone from being an immature kid, struggling to befriend his first Pokemon Pikachu, to becoming an experienced trainer, who was the leader of the group.

"Do you remember all of your battles like this?" Serena asked, giggling a little at the excitement Ash was showing. She was grateful for his cheerfulness while she was so nervous about her showcase. Maybe I just need to enjoy the moment, like Ash.

"Of course! I remember anything that's important to me, and my experiences as a Pokemon trainer are extremely important to me." He thought for a moment. "I'll always remember this journey. You're important to me..."

Serena froze. Did he actually just say I was important to him? "Ash..." she began quietly.

"...you, Clement and Bonnie are really great friends and I'll always remember this journey together." He finished, not hearing Serena.

Serena sighed. He didn't mean just you, Serena. Get over yourself. Not everything is about you. She glared at the ground, hating herself for getting her hopes up that Ash was talking about her. She realized Ash had stopped talking and was looking at her confused. "Oh sorry. I was just...uh...thinking about our journey. You're right, it's been a lot of fun. I remember when it started. I was so happy when you invited me to come with you." She meant it. It was one of the happiest moments of her life. The boy she had been thinking of since they met as little kids in Kanto had invited her to join him on his journey through Kalos.

Ash smiled. He looked at his Pokemon playing with Bonnie. Pikachu was splashing Bonnie while on Talonflame's back, by hitting the water with his tail. "I couldn't leave you after you came all that way just to find me again." He looked Serena in the eyes. "Did you really start your journey just to find me?"

Serena's hands started sweating and she pretended to watch the group playing in the pond so she didn't have to keep eye contact with Ash. The truth was yes, she had. She saw Ash on the news, being the same great person he was in that summer camp. Selfless, kind and brave. But, she didn't want to admit that. She didn't have the nerve to do it, even though she had kind of told him before. "Um-"

"Guys, lunch is ready." Clemont called.

Bonnie and the Pokemon got out of the water and sat down at the makeshift table Clemont had set up. He had sandwiches and soup out, along with glasses of water. He had also put out food for all of the Pokemon. He started scolding Bonnie for getting everything wet and she responded by throwing her water at him.

Serena started to get up, but realized Ash hadn't moved. He was still waiting for her answer to his question. She looked at him and hated herself for what she said next, "Well not exactly. I...uh...kind of wanted to just get away from my mom's Ryhorn racing. Seeing you again was cool though. And obviously meeting Bonnie and Clemont was great." She glanced at Braixen who was eating her food vigorously, clearly very hungry.

Ash got up. "Well anyways, no matter what your reasons, I'm glad you showed up." He was smiling, but it almost looked forced. He held out his hand to help her up.

Serena started to take it, but jumped when Clemont all of a sudden yelled at Bonnie, because she had filled up her water glass in the pond and was chasing him around trying to splash him. It distracted Ash too and his hand dropped. Serena silently cursed the two siblings and got up.

Everyone finally sat down for lunch, Bonnie now not alone in being soaking wet. Clemont had tripped over a rock and fallen into the pond to his sister's great amusement. Ash and Serena were luckily able to calm him down enough to forget about chasing his sister off with one of his crazy inventions.

"So how far away are we, exactly?" Bonnie asked through a mouthful of her sandwich.

Clement looked at his map and then looked at the pond and the road. "Well, unfortunately I think my calculations earlier were incorrect. There appears to be a large forest and then the only way through it is up a mountain. It appears that will increase our travel time by a couple more days."

Serena slumped down upon hearing this. "Maybe we should just forget about it and go to Snowbelle City for Ash's gym battle."

Ash stood up. "No way!" He almost shouted, "Serena, you're competing in that showcase whether it means trekking through a forest, mountain or ten of each. I'm making sure you get there."

Bonnie stood up too. "Yeah, we can handle the travel. Right Dedenne?" The little hamster-like Pokemon answered with a proud, "De-de-ne!" Squishy even made a noise of affirmation.

Clemont also stood up. "Right. We'll do it...so does anyone know how?"

Ash posed in his confident stance like he always did in these kinds of situations. "No idea, but that's when I'm at my best. We just can't give up!"

Serena was so grateful. She looked at Bonnie, then Clemont and then rested her eyes on Ash. Her friends were the best. She hadn't had anyone do something this nice since...well since Ash helped her at that summer camp in Kanto. It just turned out that once again Ash was the one to help her and he was accompanied by the two blonde siblings who were also eager to help. "You guys are the best," she kept her eyes on Ash, "and don't worry, this will be worth it. I'm gonna win."

Ash grinned, "it's worth it as long as you are doing what makes you happy." He sat back down, "now let's eat! I'm starving!"

The others murmured agreement and sat down as well, while Serena just watched Ash. He care that much about making her happy? That's why he postponed his gym battle so they could trek across half of Kalos. He really cares about me. But does he care as a friend or...more? She shook her head and started to eat. She had just taken a bite of her sandwich when all of a sudden there was an explosion behind her.

Ash and Pikachu immediately jumped up out of instinct, ready for battle, while Clemont shielded Bonnie and Serena shuffled closer to where Ash was. They stared angrily at what was in front of them.

Team Rocket stood there, on top of a giant Meowth robot, without the head, but where the head should be was a platform. Their hair looked a little frizzled, but they smirked at the group of trainers. It appeared they had blown the head off by accident, but they still had most of what looked like a dangerous machine.

"Prepare for trouble-" Jesse began.

"Pikachu! Electro ball!" Ash shouted.

Pikachu immediately responded, leaping into the air, charging up a sphere of electrical energy on its tail, chanting, "pika pika pika" and unleashing the energy with a loud, "CHAPI!"

The electrical energy whipped towards the Meowth-bot, but it lifted a paw and blocked the blast. James and Meowth smirked while Jesse glared at Ash. "How rude!" she shouted, "We never even started our motto properly."

"I'm sick of hearing it," Ash yelled back.

Jesse threw out a pokeball. "Gourgeist use dark pulse!" Her Gourgeist sprang out and sent a blast of dark energy at Pikachu.

"Pikachu, dodge and use thunderbolt!" Ash ordered. Pikachu jumped out of the way of the attack and sent a powerful blast of electricity from its cheeks towards Gourgeist.

James threw out a pokeball, yelling, "Inkay, intercept with psybeam!" Inkay came out of the pokeball and sent a powerful shiny blast towards the thunderbolt, deflecting it enough so that the bolt went just wide of the Meowth-bot.

Ash turned to his friends. "Get going! I've got this. They're after Squishy." Clemont nodded and grabbed Bonnie, while quickly recalling his Pokemon. Serena didn't move. "Serena go!" Ash insisted. "I don't want you to get stuck while fighting Team Rocket. I'll catch up, but we don't want to take any chances. I want to make sure you get to your showcase and these three aren't going to stop you." He looked her straight in the eyes, "You'll need to get going. You never know if something in the forest is going to slow you down. You'll need all the time you can get."

Serena narrowed her eyes and almost appeared to glare at Ash. "Don't be too slow." She recalled her Pokemon and followed Clemont and Bonnie, hating herself for leaving Ash in this situation.

Ash looked back to see Pikachu desperately defending him and the others while they ran. His other Pokemon were attempting to attack the Meowth-bot while it deflected their attacks with ease. Noivern had been hit and wasn't looking too good. He glared at Team Rocket. "Why can't you just leave us alone for once?" He yelled at them.

"We need to catch Pikachu and that little green Pokemon, of course. And making you pay for all you've done to us is a nice bonus." Jesse replied.

Ash ignored this. He needed to find a way to disable Meowth-bot. Meowth was clearly controlling it up top and the paws were clearly what was protecting it. Ash looked at Gourgeist and Inkay. They were protecting Meowth, so there wasn't a way to get to him right away. Ash needed to distract them. He quickly looked around he looked at the pond. If he could get them to walk into it...

"Talonflame, Noivern and Hawlucha, return!" He yelled and his Pokemon entered their pokeballs. "Greninja! Get in the water and use water pulse! Pikachu, with me!" Pikachu jumped into his arms and Ash jumped into the water. It was deeper then he thought, but he did his best to keep his head above water level to make Team Rocket think it was shallow. He made his way to the other side as Greninja sent attacks at Team Rocket. The water made him stronger and faster so that his attacks were almost too fast for Meowth-bot, Inkay and Gourgeist to keep up with. This clearly made Team Rocket agitated.

"Alright Greninja, follow me!" Ash had made it to the other side of the pond and was gesturing for Greninja to follow. Greninja jumped up and started running on the water with his great speed. Ash recalled it to its pokeball. "Thanks Greninja, you were awesome."

Team Rocket shouted angry curses at Ash. "Meowth! After them!" Meowth turned his robot and it stepped into the water. They realized their mistake quickly, but it was still too late. The robot's first foot plunged deep into the water and put the whole thing off balance. Jesse and James grabbed for the controls, yelling at Meowth for screwing it up, but that caused the robot to jerk around uncontrollably and the whole thing fell into the pond and started sinking. As they fell, they looked at Ash in panic.

"Alright Pikachu! Go!" Pikachu jumped up out of Ash's arms and sent a blast of electricity at the pond, right where Team Rocket was. Unluckily for them water conducts electricity and it caused them a severe shock. The Meowth-bot shuddered and exploded and Team Rocket went flying and shouted in unison, "we're blasting off again!"

"Great job Pikachu," Ash said. He looked at the patch his friends had taken and said, "we'd better go. They're probably starting to climb the mountain by now."

Ash started walking forward, as if to get into the pond, but Pikachu grabbed his leg. "Pi-Pikachu!" The mouse Pokemon shouted.

"What?" Ash looked at the pond. It was still sizzling with electricity. The remains of the robot were crackling and it looked like it could blow at any moment. "Well we'll just – oh no!" He looked around. He hadn't realized that the pond was small at this stretch to go across while in the water, but the short way around was blocked by large rocks and the only other way was really long. He brought out a pokeball and shouted, "Noivern, I choose you!"

Ash realized his idea wasn't going to work as soon as he looked at Noivern. The giant bat was panting and holding its wing awkwardly. Ash was going to use Noivern to fly across, but it was clearly not going to work. He was about to recall Noivern when it all of a sudden it collapsed. "No! Noivern!" He ran to his injured Pokemon, Pikachu behind him. Noivern's left wing and left leg were clearly badly hurt. He couldn't move either of them. The attack from Team Rocket had not only hurt his ability to fly, but to stand on its own strength. "Don't worry Noivern, I'll get you to the Pokemon centre." Ash got Noivern back in its pokeball and turned toward the forest behind him. "I'll bet there's one through this forest."

Serena looked at the moon. She, Bonnie and Clemont had just stopped at a little cave to rest for the night. It had been hours since they'd run from Team Rocket. They were deep into the forest when they heard the explosion. None of them had any doubt it was Team Rocket getting "blasted off again", but they had expected Ash to have caught up to them by now and were worried he wasn't there yet, Serena especially. She looked down, telling herself it was her fault. How could I leave him like that? I knew it was a dangerous battle and that it would be hard to find us, but I still left him?

Bonnie stepped out of the cave. "Serena?" She whimpered quietly, as if afraid of the older girl.

Serena turned around. "Yes, Bonnie?" She tried to sound brave, but the sadness in her voice was clear.

"Is Ash going to catch up to us?" Bonnie looked down, a tear dropping to the ground in front of her. The little girl was always so upbeat, it was strange to see her cry. She had come to love Ash almost as much as she loved her own brother. She was clearly very scared of what his absence could mean.

Serena looked down. She wanted to comfort Bonnie, but the words wouldn't come. She couldn't tell Bonnie something that she didn't fully believe herself.

Clemont emerged from the cave with three bowls of stew. "Don't worry, Bonnie. Ash might have got behind, because of something Team Rocket did, but he'll be fine. He always gets out of tough situations." He handed the two girls their food and sat down. "Knowing Ash, he probably got hungry and decided to get food before following us. If he went back to the Pokemon centre, at least he might be able to send us a message to let us know where he is. You can get emails from your tablet, right Serena?"

Serena nodded. The truth was, she knew Ash was probably fine or at least going to be fine if he or his Pokemon had somehow been hurt by Team Rocket. What made her sad was that he might end up getting too far behind and missing her showcase. She needed him there. Bonnie and Clemont were great, but Ash had a way of motivating her to believe she could do anything.

Clemont continued, not noticing how little Serena cared about his pep talk. "We need to keep travelling, like Ash said. He'll catch up, but we want to make good time, just in case. And it'd be good to get there early enough for Serena to practice."

Bonnie appeared to be happier after Clemont's talk. "And when Ash gets there, if he's late, we can surprise him with Serena's Kalos Queen crown."

Serena got up quickly at that and went into the cave, not saying anything. Bonnie looked confused. "What?"

Clemont shrugged. "I think she just expects Ash to be here before that."

Bonnie looked at Serena's untouched food and gasped. "Oh I know. Oh I shouldn't have said that.

Clemont adjusted his glasses and leaned forward. "What is it?"

Bonnie rolled her eyes. "Big brother...just shut up and eat your food. I'll talk to Serena." And with that, she picked up Serena's bowl of soup and went into the cave after her.

Clemont sighed. "Ash, please hurry. I don't know what is going on here without you."