Hello all! I'm very VERY sorry that I haven't uploaded anything in such a long time. I've been EXTREMELY busy over the last six months with University, but that's all calmed down now. This is the first of a few stories that I've actually been planning and writing for a while, but just haven't had the time to finish. I hope you all enjoy.

The setting sun covered the tidy little house in a golden glow as Serena ascended the stairs to the first floor before heading towards the end of the corridor. She had spent about an hour after dinner discussing the day's events with two of her travelling companions, Clemont and Bonnie, as well as their father, Meyer, but the entire time, her mind was upstairs, focused on her third and final friend, who had disappeared up the stairs straight after dinner.

Just a few hours ago, Ash had been battling in the final of the Lumiose Conference to earn the right to challenge the Kalos Elite Four. He had been locked in fierce battle against Alain, a ruthlessly strong trainer with both a Mega Ring and a Mega Charizard X, who has also defeated Ash twice before. With that record hanging over his head, his previous tournament losses, not to mention the fact he was one battle away from being able to go head to head with the best trainers in all of Kalos, he had fought with all his heart to topple Alain and take the conference trophy for himself.

The battle had been truly fierce, with both trainers pushing each other to their very limits, but in the end, Alain's Charizard had just proved too much for Ash's Greninja, who had collapsed after being hit by its Blast Burn attack, leaving Alain to be declared the winner. Though Ash had congratulated Alain for his victory, as well as constantly reassuring his whole team there was nothing to be upset about, that they had done so fantastically to even think about being ashamed, Serena could tell from the look in his eyes as he watched Alain lift the trophy that he was still hurting. He had barely spoken since returning to Clemont's place, and she thought it was best he got his own space after he had disappeared upstairs straight after eating. But she had also decided that she couldn't just let her crush wallow in his own despair all night, and wanted to try and talk to him. As she was contemplating how best to approach him, she realized she had reached his bedroom door. She waited a few more seconds before taking a deep breath and gently knocking on the door.

"Ash, it's me, can I come in?" she asked. She waited what seemed like hours before eventually getting a response.

"It's open," she heard a weak voice reply. She opened the door and saw Ash lying on his bed. His hair was disheveled and his face emotionless as he sat up, staring at her walking through the door. Serena instantly noticed that the passionate spark normally present in his brown eyes was weaker than she had ever seen.

"Hey," she said softly, smiling weakly at him.

"Hi," he responded, an equally lackluster grin adorning his face.

"How are you feeling?" she asked, before mentally scolding herself for asking such a ridiculous question.

"OK," he responded, in that same drained tone she had heard from behind the door. He sounded as if he had been practicing that answer, like he had been asking himself the same question for the past hour straight.

"Where's Pikachu?" Serena said, suddenly noticing the absence of the yellow electric type. Ash gestured to the window sill, where she saw Pikachu curled up into a fetal position. From what she could see of his face, he seemed to be in a similar state to his trainer.

Serena sat down on the bed next to Ash, not taking her eyes off of him for one second. Ash looked at her and opened his mouth, as if he was about to speak, but exhaled gently and returned his gaze to her lap. Serena felt her heart tighten tortuously.

"Ash, I told you before, you can tell me absolutely anything. I promise I'll listen." She put her hand on his shoulder to try and give him a small whim of comfort. Ash's expression seemed to lift slightly as he felt Serena's hand on him. After a few more moments, he spoke again.

"I've been thinking…about the battle. Me and Greninja put everything on the line. I feel every single attack and every emotion whenever we bond. I knew just how much he wanted to win. And then the second that Blast Burn connected, I…I knew what had happened. I felt his pain, and…I felt his disappointment." A few seconds of agonizing silence fell upon the room. Then, without any warning, Ash buried his face in his hands and broke down into tears.

At that point, Serena's instincts took over and she pulled him into a hug. He didn't resent her, he didn't even give her a quizzical look, he simply clutched her back and cried into her shoulder. Under normal circumstances she would be over the moon at such intimate contact with the boy she loved, but that was the last thing on her mind now. She gently shushed him while rubbing his back, like a mother comforting a small child, while silent tears streamed down her own face, her heart shattering into a thousand more pieces with every one of his sobs. How? How could this happen? Ash and his Pokémon had worked so hard. And they had been so close. So, so close. Stupid Alain! Why did he have to come along and ruin everything? How did Blast Burn even KO Greninja anyways? Weren't water types supposed to be strong against fire? And this was Ash's SIXTH loss now. Why couldn't he just win? Why couldn't life cut him a break? It…it wasn't fair!

After around ten pain filled minutes, Ash's crying started to die down a little as he lifted his face from her shoulder and rested his chin on it, still holding Serena tightly.

"I just…feel so…ashamed," he said in between sniffs. "Like I've let my Pokémon down. Like I've let my mom down. Like I've let you down. I'm a...I'm a failure. I've failed you all."

This remark seemed to snap Serena back into reality. She wiped her face with the back of her hand, pulled away from Ash and grasped him by the shoulders. "Ash, look at me," she said, softly. His head was hanging, deliberately avoiding eye contact with her. "Look at me." she said, a bit more forcefully. Ash slowly lifted his head to meet her gaze, his bright auburn eyes still sparkling with tears.

"Don't ever, ever say that about yourself." She said. She spoke sternly, but still with that warm, comforting tone she always had in her voice. "You are not a failure. Just think how far you've come, how strong you've gotten, how strong all of you have gotten. You've inspired me so much, and Clemont and Bonnie and who knows how many other people in that stadium today. I don't care what some stupid trophy says – you're the most amazing trainer I've ever met. You haven't failed anyone, least of all me."

Ash's sobs slowly dissipated as he continued to meet Serena's gaze, blinking every so often to clear the tears from his eyes. Then he looked down, and saw that Pikachu had clambered next to him on his bed. He too looked to have been crying, but he gently rubbed his head against Ash's arm, letting out a soft cooing as he did so. Ash picked him up, hugging his best friend before kissing him gently on the forehead.

"Thanks buddy," he said, his voice still cracking a little with emotion. He then turned back to Serena.

"You're right. This whole thing's got me in a big funk. I'm not acting like myself. I'm not THINKING like myself. I promise I'll stop it now. No more negativity." Serena smiled comfortingly.

"Ash, it's ok to be upset. I felt the same after my Master Class. But please, don't ever blame yourself. No one works as hard as you do, there's nothing more you could've done. You are going to get your reward someday, I promise. And I'll make sure I'm there cheering for you." Ash wiped his eyes one last time before smiling back at her, looking much more invigorated. Suddenly, the two of them heard a loud rumbling. They looked down at Ash's stomach, before looking back at each other and laughing.

"Are you kidding me Ash? You just had dinner!" Serena said in a mockingly exasperated tone.

"Hey, I can't help it if I get hungry quickly," Ash responded. Serena stuck her tongue out at him cheekily before standing up.

"Well, how about I make you some cookies then?" she asked him.

"Do you even need me to answer that one?" he retorted. Serena grinned, before heading for the door. "Serena, wait!" She turned back around as she heard him calling her name. "Thanks. Thanks a lot." He gave her his trademark grin, the sadness now completely eradicated from his voice. Serena smiled back at him.

"It's no problem Ash. I'm just so glad to see you happy again." And with that, she headed out the door and down the stairs, her heart filling with delight at the return of the infectious optimism she loved so much.

And that's that. Since my other stories focused on Ash, I thought I'd switch it up and try writing from Serena's perspective. And yes, I know that the Team Flare attack happened right after the Lumiose Conference so there was no time for this to happen in the actual series, but I'm just pretending it happened the next day instead. Think of it as my own mini AU. Anyways, I've got another Serena focused story that I'll be posting in this coming week, as well as something much bigger after that, so keep your eyes out. Thanks for reading, I'll see you all next time, take care.