While the girls were talking among themselves in the last chapter, Serena and Ash got to spend some time alone together.

With Ash and Serena

As Ash was gobbling up the macarons, Serena couldn't help but giggle. While most other people would have found this a bit off-putting, Serena found it... cute?

Ash noticed Serena giggling and stopped. He began feeling a bit embarrassed and apologised.

"Sorry!"

Serena shook her head. "It's alright Ash." she said with a smile.

"In fact, I'm happy. It just shows that you like them." she continued cheerfully. As Serena continued to watch Ash eat, she realised that they were still standing up. She then noticed a bench a short distance away.

"Hey, Ash, do you want to take a seat? Eating while standing up should be very uncomfortable for you." Serena said while pointing towards the bench.

Ash looked up at Serena and then at the bench. "Sure!".

As they were walking to the bench, Ash realised that Serena had made a lot of macarons. Judging by her slim figure, Ash knew that she wasn't the one who was going to eat all of these macarons. Heck, he was unsure if even he could eat all of them. That got him thinking. WHo did she make these macarons for.

As they got to the bench, they sat down and Ash decided to ask the question.

"Hey, Serena?" Ash started. "Who did you make these macarons for?"

Serena froze. She was hoping Ash wouldn't ask her that question. After what had happened between Ash and Calem during that battle, Serena knew that they weren't in the best of terms. Serena continued hesitantly.

"I... I made them for Calem." she finished. She looked down to her feet, not having the courage to look up to Ash.

"Oh..." Ash said as he stopped eating them again. He had a small frown on his face as he heard that.

"Then why did you give them to me?" Ash continued.

"Well, I felt really bad for this morning. I wanted to talk to you but Calem became a jerk and caused you to drop your breakfast. I didn't mean to laugh at you, I'm sorry Ash." replied Serena immediately while looking at Ash.

She then continued "I also noticed that you were sitting outside, all by yourself during lunch so I assumed you didn't eat anything. During the battle, Calem's behaviour shocked me. He was putting you and your Pokemon in danger. I wanted to apologise to you and make it up to you somehow."

Serena looked back down to the ground. Ash looked at Serena and he could see guilt in her eyes. She felt guilty for what her and Calem had done to Ash.

"I'm sorry for ruining your first day here, Ash." Serena said, now on the verge of tears.

Ash was taken aback by the sincerity in Serena's apology. The phrase "I'm sorry." is thrown around without any meaning to it these days, however, Ash could see that Serena meant it and all Ash could do now was forget what happened and smile.

"Serena, don't worry about apologising, its completely fine!" replied Ash with a genuine smile of gratitude as a response to Serena's sincerity.

Serena looked up at Ash. She was surprised by the fact that he had forgiven her so easily. Even more so by the fact that he was smiling at her. Looking at his smile made Serena feel all warm and fuzzy inside. She found his smile contagious so she instinctively smile back at him. Serena then kept staring at him. She tried to, but couldn't avert her gaze from him. It was almost as if she was in a trance. It was the first time she got to look at Ash from up close. She started inspecting every small feature about him, from the z marks underneath on his cheeks to his Auburn eyes. His wild Raven hair looked majestic up close. As she took in his features, she found herself blushing. She found Ash physically attractive. She wanted to get to know his more. She wanted to see what king of person Ash Ketchum was.

Ash had gone back to eating the macarons when he suddenly realised something. Serena probably hadn't eaten either. It was already quite late and lunch was hours ago. He quickly flicked his head towards Serena to ask her to join him, but he found her staring at him. Serena blushed harder and quickly looked away, acting as if she was just looking around.

Ash shrugged, but continued with the request anyway.

"Serena, why don't you have some too? I'm sure you're hungry too."

"No Ash, It's fine, I want you to have them. I'm not hungry anyways." she tried to lie, but was quickly caught out by her stomach which decided to growl at the wrong time.

"Your stomach tells me that you're lying..." Ash chuckled.

Serena blushed in embarrassment, however, she noticed that Ash was still holding the box of macarons out in front of her. She smiled at Ash's thoughtfulness and decided to eat.

Ash and Serena the continued to converse. They talked about each other's lives. Their hopes and dreams.

Serena was surprised by the fact that Ash had traveled so many regions and had so many Pokemon. She had realised that almost everybody Ash had ever travelled with had attended KIT. She remembers Brock as the guy who graduated as a Pokemon doctor and Cilan who graduated as an S-class connoisseur just last year.

Serena was also quite astonished by the massive dream Ash had of becoming a Pokemon master. However, she could see how determined he was. He had a set goal in mind and wasn't going to let anyone stop him. He was passionate about it too. Seeing Ash so fired up about his goals and dreams really surprised Serena as she had never felt the same way about Ryhorn racing.

Ash then listened to Serena as he talked about her past and her hopes for the future.

Ash had learned that she is the daughter of the world famous Grace Yvonne. She was a Ryhorn racer and Serena had followed in her footsteps... which immediately alarmed Ash.

Eventhough Ash grew up with just Delia, he knew that having a famous relative puts a lot of pressure on you. It was the same case with Gary when they were little. He knew that Gary felt as if he had to be the best in order to live up to the 'Oak' surname. He knew Gary wanted to be known as Gary Oak rather than the grandson of Professor Oak so he embarked on a journey he was unsure about. Gary had soon realised that Pokemon battles were not for him and went into the field of research... which turned out the be the right decision as this is the happiest he had ever seen Gary.

Serena, on the other hand, hadn't figured it out yet, and Ash knew that already. He had a feeling that Serena was under pressure from all her family and friends to meet their expectations and be as good as, if not, better than her mom in Ryhorn racing. A very similar thing happened with May. Norman wanted her to be a Gym leader, but may found her dream of becoming a Top Coordinator.

Ash had to make sure if he was right though. He wasn't completely sure if Serena enjoyed Ryhorn racing.

Serena then continued talking about her future. She told him that her dream is to be a Ryhorn racer. Ash noticed that her voice lacked enthusiasm and excitement. When people talk about their dreams, they often have become very passionate about the subject and Serena didn't even show a hint of passion.

Ash decided to investigate further.

"So, why do you want to become a Ryhorn racer?" he asked.

Serena froze as it dawned upon her that she didn't know the reason. She had grown up with Ryhorn racing as assumed that that would be her future. She then came up with the best reason she could and went with it.

"Because my mom was a Ryhorn racer?" Serena replied.

Ash was now completely sure about his predictions. Serena is not supposed to be a Ryhorn racer. No matter how good she is, she isn't going to be happy with doing it for the rest of her life.

Ash gave a deep sign and Serena noticed it immediately.

"What's wrong?" she asked, slightly confused.

"Are you completely sure that being a Ryhorn racer is your dream? I don't want you to answer right now. I want you to think about it a little." he said.

Serena was silent.

Ash continued. "Will you be happy as a professional Ryhorn racer in the future? I know you're extremely good at it, that's why you're in this school, but, just because you're good at it doesn't necessarily mean you enjoy it... I might be wrong. Maybe you enjoy it a lot, but from what you just said, it seemed to me like you're trying to meet the expectations of others around you. It's almost as if you are putting everyone's hopes above your own dreams."

When Ash finished, Serena just looked at him in awe. Serena knew that she was not too happy about Ryhorn racing, but no one else, even her own mother, hat noticed it. Ash, however, untangled her in mere minutes. It was almost as if Ash could see right through her lies and cover ups. Serena was now staring to realise why all her friends spoke so highly of Ash.

Serena's head drooped.

"I know I don't want to be a Ryhorn racer Ash, but that't the only thing I can do. I don't even know what my dream is!" she said.

Ash had realised the sudden mood change in Serena.

"Don't worry Serena, you have all the time in the world to figure out your dream and I, along with all our friends, will be there to help you realise it!" he said with confidence and gave her a wide grin.

Suddenly, a small, yellow ball of fur jumped onto Ash's shoulder and gave a cry of support to Serena.

"PiPikachu!" it screamed while fist-pumping the air and smiling at Serena.

Serena looked up at the two and blushed while smiling widely. Ash's words of support and encouragement were a lot of help to her. She looked at Ash as he started eating another macaron. Serena took a macaron out and fed it to Pikachu who gladly took it and gulped it down, just like its trainer.

Serena giggled at the sight of the two. She then took out a macaron and started to nibble on it herself while looking towards her group of friends. That's when she noticed all the girls and Gary were looking towards her and Ash. They also had genuine smiles plastered on their faces.

Serena then faced Ash again.

"Hey Ash? Do you think I'll ever find my dream? I mean, I don't even know if I have one..." said Serena with a hint of sadness in her voice. Ash quickly pick up on it and replied with something completely unexpected by Serena.

"Serena, how about we have a battle someday? It's the best way to clear your mind. It has always helped me so it might help you too!" he replied.

Serena considered it for a moment. After watching Calem getting absolutely thrashed, she had her doubts.

"But I will definitely lose to you!" she replied.

Ash frowned at this as he saw the she still hasn't realised that the battle is to help her with her problem.

"A battle isn't always about winning or losing. When you battle, you start to understand things that would be impossible to, though the use of words. It's always about what you learn from the battle that is of the utmost importance." Ash replied.

Serena's eyes lit up as she understood what was going on. This was Ash's way of helping her realise what her dream is. A blush grew on her face because of Ash's words and actions. He had gone out of his way to support her and help her.

"Thanks Ash, and of course, I would love to battle you... though I always thought it was the challengers that were supposed to challenge the Champion." Serena laughed and Ash soon joined in.

"Ash, its starting to get quite dark, we should head back to our friends so we can go back to our rooms." said Serena, to which Ash agreed.

They walked back to their group of friends. The only boy remaining was Gary while all the other girls were still there. They all talked for a while before heading back to their rooms.

On the way, Ash had stopped at the Pokemon centre to collect his 5 other Pokemon from Nurse Joy. Pikachu had run out of the Pokemon centre to find him.

Serena and her friends headed to their dorms. Serena was quite full from the macarons that she had eaten with Ash so she decided to skip dinner for today. She went to her room and sat on her bed, thinking about her day. Her thoughts kept going back to Ash. She kept feeling like that she knew him from somewhere, almost as if she had met him somewhere before. Even though it was only the first day of meeting him, Serena felt like she had known Ash for a very long time. This was mostly because of the deep talk that they shared today. She had also noticed that he was kind, helpful, thoughtful and supportive of her. He showed genuine concern for her even though he barely knew her. She really appreciated what Ash had done for her today. She slowly laid down on her bed and drifted to sleep with a smile plastered on her face as she though about Ash.

Ash too had a smile on his face. He was back in his room. Ash had just finished dinner. Even though he had eaten almost 3 dozen of Serena's macarons, his stomach was still not satisfied so he had stopped at the cafeteria on his way to his room for dinner.

During the walk back, he had a lot of time to reflect back on the day he had. Although it didn't start particularly well, the end was amazing. He got to have some alone time with Serena and during that time, Ash had realised that she had completely misunderstood Serena this morning. All Ash could think of was the king, honest, sweet and gentle girl from 10 years ago, who he had the chance and pleasure of meeting again after all these years. His smile any grew bigger as he realised that she had hardly changed and is still the girl she was all those years ago.

Pikachu was already asleep in the corner of the bed Ash was laying down. Ash kept thinking about Serena as he too slowly dozed off with a smile on his face.

End of Chapter 7.

This chapter was slightly smaller than my previous 2 chapters. The events taking place in this chapter is the same ones as the ones that took place in the previous chapter. While the previous Chapter was with Ash and Serena's friends, this one is just between Ash and Serena.

I feel like I can't jump straight into massive Amourshipping moments, however, there should be some amazing moments coming up.

Next chapter should be the first proper day of School for Ash. The group also find that there is another new student in the school other than Ash in Year 2. What role will this student play in the lives on Ash and Serena and their budding friendship/relationship? Ind out in the next chapter.

Thanks for reading guys.

I'll see you in the next chapter! :)