Ash's POV

Today was just another normal, boring day in the kingdom. We were doing our usual jobs. Preparing for the ball that was happening tomorrow. Everyone was currently rushing around the castle in panic as preparations were not finished yet.

As for the boys and myself, we were busy finishing off our punishment. The punishment was to end after the ball was over. But for now, I was in the stables taking care of Pika.

"How are you doing boy." I said rubbing the mane of my horse. It gave a neigh in response and I just smiled at it.

"Cute horse, don't you think." A voice said from behind me.

I spun around in surprise. It was only meant to be me out here in the stables today. But this voice was feminine and definitely not Iris.

"Who's there?" I called to the shadows before peering around a tree.

"So. You're one of the princes of the Kingdom of Stars?" The unknown voice asked me.

"Yes." I gulped as I heard a rustle in the bushes and all the horses moved uneasily.

"Nice to meet you again. Alf." I spun around as I felt a tap on my shoulders and I was met with these beautiful Cerulean eyes.

"Who are you?" I asked them trying to pry her for her name.

"That's for me to know, and for you to find out." She smiled at me.

I felt like I was melting in her presence. Her orange hair was sparkling in the sunlight and her eyes glistened. This girl looked like a princess.

"I must go now." She said but not before flashing me an award winning smile.

I felt like I could melt like butter on a stove right now. My heart was fluttering strangely. Was it because I haven't eaten yet that I felt like this?

"Hey Ashy boy! Wake up!" Gary's annoying voice said followed by a slap in the face.

(OH MY GOSH WHEN I TYPED GARY, IT AUTOCORRECTED TO FARTS.)

My eyes shot open and I glared at the boy looking at me.

"You know, in your sleep your eyes were open and you were just staring dreamily at the ceiling." He smirked at me while I just scowled at his ugly face.

"Way to ruin a good dream." I mumbled grumpily as I stumbled out of bed with Gary walking out my bedroom door chuckling.

By the time I reached the dining hall, everyone was hurrying around holding onto decorations and trays of food. I stared at each of the food trays and felt like drooling. My stomach growled in hunger and several maids stopped to stare at me with odd looks on their faces.

"Proceed." I commanded as they continued to stare at me and my screaming stomach.

I felt myself turn red in embarrassment as some snickered at me.

"Morning Ash. Are you ready for the ball?" I heard someone approach from behind me. I spun around to see that it was Brendan.

"Yep. I don't know how to dance though. So that's a problem." I rubbed the back of my neck.

"Maybe you should ask Iris for dance lessons. I heard she's the best dancer in this Kingdom." Brendan informed me and I put it into consideration.

"I'll ask her about it during breakfast." I said before walking off to the dining table where everyone was already eating.

They were all discussing things about the ball. I overheard Drew speaking to Gary about how he didn't know what to wear while Gary looked extremely nervous.

"The famous Gary Oak is nervous for the first time in his life! What a surprise." I exclaimed as I approached my friends.

"He's being a wimp." Paul rolled his eyes as Gary began muttering random profanities. "Apparently he can't dance and is worried about dancing with the ladies. He's afraid that he's going to step on someone's dress or something."

"Don't worry Gary." I reassured him and smacked his back making him let out a snort. "I don't know how to dance either so I'm getting lessons tonight. You should join."

I sat down at the table and piled up my plate with food before looking at Iris. Normally maids would not be allowed to sit with the royals but she was an exception due to King Cilan. He wanted her to look after us and she was in charge of making sure that we did our duties and chores. In my opinion, she was a bit bossy.

Actually, Iris was the King's favourite maid out of all of them. I don't know why though. The thing we admired about Iris was that she was always confident and never backed down on anything. She would never look down at her feet nor would you ever see her nervous. But she was still bossy.

"So, Iris. You want to teach us how to dance?" I looked at her with wide, pleading eyes. She just tilted her head in the other direction and acted like she hadn't heard me.

"Iris. You should know better than to ignore a prince. I suggest that you do the lessons. It would put a good impression on our kingdom to actually have princes that can dance." A loud voice commanded the maid.

We all turned to the speaker. It was King Cilan himself and he was looking at Iris with a stern and commanding gaze.

Iris just shook her head then sighed before finally looking to face me.

"I'll do it. Just as long as it's only for this one occasion." She agreed then continued to finish up her breakfast.

~~~

It was now afternoon and Gary and I had just finished all our duties. We were walking in the hallways and heading towards he ballroom where Iris was waiting for us already. We flung the doors open and dipped our heads to the guards waiting outside the room.

"Welcome princes. We shall begin our lessons tonight. Expect that you have to learn in just a few hours since the ball is already tomorrow anyway." Iris said and Gary and I nodded our heads politely.

"Now let's get to it. Follow my steps and remember what I do." Iris demanded strictly and we immediately began following her orders like we would do everyday.

Misty's POV

Tomorrow was the ball and I was not ready for it. I still despised these sorts of events since the last time I was actually at a ball was when my kingdom fell. I remember it like it was just yesterday.

Flashback

"Welcome to the yearly dance! Please lightly applaud our queens and princess!" Our advisor, Serena announced.

Thousands of people began clapping and I just entered the room as gracefully as possible. For a ten year old, it was quite scary to stand in front of thousands of people. Serena was my age as well and my best friend but she became our advisor.

"Today is the day we commemorate the time when our kingdom was born!" Serena spoke to the crowd and everyone cheered. "Now let the ball, begin!"

Everyone went to their partners while several men offered dances to my sisters who gratefully accepted. Myself and Serena stood awkwardly in the spot and watched the dancing couples spin and twirl across the dance floor.

"Want to dance?" I giggled at Serena and she accepted with a giggle as well.

We both attempted to dance like the adults around us but failed and laughed every time we stepped on each other. We tried twirling each other around but failed horribly and others around us glanced over in our direction in amusement. My sisters just grinned at me as the two of us continued to dance around.

"Well this isn't working." I said clutching my stomach in laughter.

My honey blonde friend grinned at me and took my hand so we were standing side by side and staring at the crowd in awe.

"This is really fun." I said excitedly to my friend.

"It really is." She smiled and agreed.

That's when everyone stopped dancing. Everything went silent for a split second before an explosion interrupted the event and I cried in fear. I desperately looked for my sisters and I gasped as I found the state they were in.

My three sisters were crushed under the wall where the explosion had occurred. I put my free hand over my mouth and I felt Serena squeeze my hand reassuringly. I looked her way to see her mouth something to me.

'We have to get out of here.' She mouthed and I nodded.

I looked back once at my sisters and felt a tear slide down my cheek. I followed my friend through the castle which was overrun by soldiers from another kingdom. We managed to escape unnoticed but that was until we reached the forest that lay on the outskirts of our kingdom.

Serena released the grip on my hand and let out a scream as she was dragged away from me.

"Serena!" I screamed and spun around.

"Princess Misty." The kidnapper spoke, making me glare a deadly glare at him.

"Let her go you moron! She did nothing!" I yelled at the man who was smirking as he held a knife against my best friends neck.

"We offer a deal then. We let Serena escape, in exchange for your life." The man said while I watched Serena stop squirming and look at me with wide frightful eyes.

"That's a stupid deal." She hissed and kicked the man in the leg and punched him in the face.

He released her which allowed her to escape from his reach. Before she could sprint towards me, I watched in horror as a knife pierced her back and she fell to the ground in agony.

"NO!" I screamed in terror as my friend lay on the ground in a pool of blood. "SERENA!!"

"Now, your life." He said with a smirk then walked over to me.

"No." I gave him a death glare before using all my strength to kick him hard where the sun doesn't shine.

I grabbed something from my dress pocket and tossed it at his face. It was a chilli spray I had stolen from one of the guards who had made it as a joke. The man screamed in pain as his face burned like fire.

I didn't stop there. I punched his face until he went unconscious with tears constantly rolling down my face.

"For Serena." I punched.

"For my sisters." A kick.

"For my kingdom." A stomp.

I rushed over to my friend who was barely breathing. She still had the knife in her back but she used up all her strength to sit up and face me.

"Serena." I whispered. She put a finger to my lips before wrapping me in a hug.

"You'll always be my best friend. Forever." She mumbled into my ears before gasping and falling back on the ground in a pool of her own blood.

"No. Serena." I sobbed. "Please Don't leave me."

"She's gone." A voice rasped from behind me.

I spun around and glared at the speaker.

"This was your doing." I spat in anger. "Who are you?"

"I am the King of the Kingdom of Air." He croaked but coughed up some blood afterwards.

"You psycho." I snarled at him and looked at my friend who lay on the ground, motionless.

End of Flashback

I felt tears cover my eyes as I remembered those moments. Everyday, I wish that Serena could be with us: Leaf, Dawn, May and I. And it would be the five of us living together and going to this ball together.

Right now, I'm still wishing that I could dance with my best friend for fun again and laugh with her. She closer to me than my sisters to the point where she actually felt like my sister altogether.

Serena, I wish you could be here with us...

I went out of my room suddenly feeling sorrowful. I saw Dawn in her room with a sewing machine and a bunch of pieces of paper surrounding her. I entered her room and admired her talents with design. She had sketched out a bunch of dress designs and was measuring some of her many fabrics.

"Oh Misty, just in time. I have to measure you so I can make this dress your size." Dawn said without looking up from her designs.

"Alright." I nodded.

At least it will be something to distract me from Serena.

—-

I'm actually quite sad. In all honesty, I actually like Serena unlike few people in the Pokemon fandom. I do ship both Amourshipping and Pokeshipping which is quite odd, but I mainly like Pokeshipping.

Anyways, this was more of a pokeshipping chapter, so I hope you enjoyed it. So the next chapter will be at the ball, and things will escalate from there.

Thanks for reading once again! And I'd just like to say, thank you so much for over 200 reads!

In my opinion, 200 is a pretty big number so this I a pretty big achievement for me.

Thank you again, and the next chapter should be coming out soon anyways.

Okay bye now!!

- April

17th Feb, 2018