Light shone through the windows of Professor Sycamore's lab. Alain, Mairin, Diantha, Silver and the Professor stayed in their own little group, chatting. Clemont, Bonnie, Shauna, Trevor, Tierno and Sawyer were the loudest there, screaming and laughing with such noise that they were impossible to miss. Ash sat on his own, secretly playing with his powers while Serena sat next to him, watching him with admiration. She heard footsteps.

"Ash! Brown eyes!", she whispered quickly as she turned to greet them. The top of Ash's eye was spread with brown shades, like someone was splashing paint on them, and it ran throughout the rest of his eye until it was fully brown. He'd told Serena that he could change his eye color with his mind, and that the contacts would give him an excuse to say "They're contacts" just in case anything slipped. It was a pretty useless idea, but it made Ash feel more secure.

"Sawyer! Hi", Ash welcomed, trying not to sound tense.

"Ash, why aren't you with the rest of us? You've just been sitting here looking at your hands glow", Sawyer asked awkwardly, accidentally backing Ash up into a corner. Ash waved his hand in Sawyer's face, and he froze. A red aura danced around his eyes for a few seconds, before disappearing and allowing him to walk away normally.

"What'd you do?", Serena questioned him after he left.

"I erased his memories of everything I did since I came here."

"Cool!"

When the two quickly noticed they weren't being watched at all, they ran to the open greenhouse behind the lab to get some fresh air. As soon as they were in the field of flowers and daisies, two white wings bursted from Ash's back, and he soared into the air, laughing with joy that he was allowed to be himself. He did somersaults, twists and turns in the air, and when he started to go lower, a transparent platform of what looked like crystal or glass would always appear from under his feet to push him up again. While he enjoyed himself, Serena pulled out the list he gave her of a few facts people found shocking about him.

'Things about me that people get shocked at

My voice is actually very high and nothing like how you hear it at all. It kinda sounds like a four -  year - old ghost, but a lot more friendly. I can change my voice to imitate anyone, so I used a voice I heard from a boy at school one day that I thought was the best replacement for mine and stuck to it. Tell me if you want me to speak in my normal voice!

I don't have a gender. It's not because that's what I want to be - I literally have no signs of being either a girl or boy. My chest has always been a lot like a girl's, except it's just plain, if you know what I mean. Skin and nothing on it. There is nothing in between my legs, just skin. The doctors said that my body was thin, light, and devoid of any female or male features. My hair never grew past my shoulders, but that's not necessarily a gender specific trait. I never have, nor will I ever grow body hair. Which means, yes, I grew up wearing dresses sometimes. People just call me a he because I grew up acting like a boy. I'm not weird.

I can do anything. Not showing off, just saying. If you ever need help, I'm here! I can create, destroy, and sense things no human can. 

I can speak and understand any language, even if I haven't learnt it. It's a part of my powers. When I'm given a piece of foreign text I've never seen, my eyes just translate it into my language and helps me translate a sentence back. Yep. My eyes are weird.

Last but not least, I can talk with multiple voices at a time. The easiest way I can explain this is that the doctors said my voice box can project more than one sound at a time. If the voices are saying different things, I can speak using telepathy. So, if you ever need to scare someone out of revenge or something, I can help!

You're the first person in more than 10 years to not be freaked out by me when you found out about my powers, and even if you are, you haven't disrespected me, which is awesome.

Thanks,

Ash'

Even if it was just a small piece of paper, that letter meant so much to Serena. She held it close, like the blue ribbon on her chest, promising herself that anything she discovered about Ash would never drive her far from him, or her. She didn't mind what gender Ash was, she always noticed his hair was a lot more feminine, with it's shape and quality.

"What's happening here?"

A voice yelled from the door of the greenhouse, startling Ash and Serena. Ash reacted quickly, landing smoothly without damaging the ground and flicking his hands into the air, sending a red aura Alain's way, and soon, erasing his memory. Serena sighed of relief, turning to Ash with a smile, while his wings disintegrated. 

"So, Ash, what does your voice really sound like?", Serena asked. Ash paused for a moment before nervously playing with his hands.

"U-um...you really wanna know that now?"

"Pleeeeeeeeaaaaaase"

"Okay, fine. But I'm pretty sure you'll never look at me the same when you hear my real voice"

"That could be a good thing"

Serena gave Ash a while to change his voice since he'd been using the same one for such a long time, when finally, he spoke.

"Okay, here you go. My real voice sounds like this", Ash said in he cutest, youngest, most innocent voice she'd ever heard. It sounded like a child angel. Serena could only stare while her ears basked in paradise. It was even better than Ash's artificial voice. She could listen to his real one forever, even if it didn't sound much like a boy, Ash had no specified gender anyway.

"AAAAW! ASH, YOUR VOICE IS SO CUUUTE", Serena cooed while playing with Ash's hair like he was a baby.Ash just went along with it and let her have her moment.

"Oh, yeah. I forgot to add something to the list. I've had the same voice, weight and face since I was born. The only changes are the height and my hair getting thicker"

"So that's why you're so light..."

Ash walked away for a second to go to the river. Serena was suspicious until she saw him put his foot on the water only for it not to sink. He then placed his other foot, which also continued standing straight up. Then, he started walking on the water, so casually it almost looked like it was a normal thing for him.

Meanwhile, Alain was talking with the others in the party.

"What happened in the greenhouse?", Shauna asked. Alain looked perplexed. 

"What? I didn't go back there. What're you talking about?". Mairin was now starting to get concerned. She needed to find out what was going on.

"You went back there to find Ash, remember?"

"I don't know. I'll go back there since you guys are saying I looked, I just want to find Ash. He's been...distant from me...ever since the Kalos League"

Alain walked towards the door of the greenhouse.

"Wait. Someone's moving towards the door. It's Alain! Again?", Ash exclaimed, seeing Alain approach him through his x - ray vision. After reading his mind, he found out that the others told him he went there before so he decided to go again.

"Maybe I...should tell him?". Serena immediately tried to eradicate the idea from his head. 

"Ash, no! What if he judges you like those kids did back when you were younger? What if he tells everyone else?"

"But I feel bad. He thinking about me being distant from him. And I have been"

"Okay...I'm not going to try to stop you because I know you'll be able to handle the situation if it gets out of hand...but I think we'd better show him differently than you showed me..."

(Since Ash has no gender, he can wear girl and boy clothes, so please don't judge Ash for the clothes he wears)

Alain walked into the greenhouse, only to find no one was there, and he was shaking his head all over again. He looked from left to right, before finally giving up, and yelling in frustration.

"UGH! Ash, just tell me where you are!"

Suddenly, he heard a voice in his head.

'Are you sure you really wanna know?'

Why was he hearing voices? Was he going crazy? He decided to reply by thinking, just to test it.

'Yes. Please'

'Okay, but don't say I didn't warn you'

Alain couldn't believe himself. It worked. Ash was communicating with him through his mind. Darkness gathered from every area, creating a shape in the center of its gathering, right in front of Alain. The darkness evaporated, except from the black figure still standing, facing Alain, looking like it was on some sort of black fire.

"Ash...really...I don't know what's going on but I want to see you"

Alain stopped for a few seconds, blinked a few time, and flinched and twitched. 

"Ash...did you just put information into my mind?". Alain now knew everything Ash had told Serena. He was overwhelmed to know all of this, but he was glad. He'd wanted to know more about him ever since they'd met.

The fire slowly burned out, until it all disappeared at once, revealing Ash. His wings were flowing calmly from his back, his eyes were glowing softly, his hands were shining with embers of fire and electricity. His outfit was different, too. He wore the same outfit as Diantha, except for a few changes. The coat didn't have those wing - like shapes Diantha's did on the top. He wasn't wearing anything on his neck, the shorts were an inch longer, and there were no gold strips on it either. Instead, it faded from white at the top to purple at the bottom. The coat was sleeveless, like Serena's. The boots went past his knee.

Alain walked towards the younger human, smiling as he did, and held him by the shoulders.

"Ashelyx. Don't ever think I won't accept you for who you are. You were born beautiful, and I'm not just saying that because you're the Prince of this world. You really are special. I want to spend more time with you. Will you let me do that?"

Alain bent down on one knee, as if he was proposing. He held out his hand, stretching it so it was a few centimeters away from Ash's chest. Ash took his hand, using his powers to grow the same flower he gave to Serena. That very girl watched form behind with utter jealousy. Of course, Ash had free choice, but still.

"Yes. But on one condition. When I was younger, there was a teacher at school that would always stand up for me. She knew everything about me, and didn't have a problem with me. She referred to me as a girl. Since I don't have a gender, it would be really special if you did it too~"

Alain stood up and lifted Ash up while the younger one held his arms tightly.

"Of course, little girl"

Serena realized she'd have to start doing it too, because she wanted to feel special to Ash as well. They both knew her as a boy, but it was time to push past that and treat Ash with the respect she deserved. They could easily adapt, since Ash already had girlish qualities from the start.

Ash's wings floated higher than her head, and she floated up, quickly but smoothly swimming in the air towards the river. As soon as she reached the surface, she sat down on her knees, and the river took her across the flow. Her wings also lay on the water, dancing around it, but never going under it, just  slowly swerving around the surface rhythmically. 

(We're going to refer to Ash as a girl from now on. It's not that he is a girl, like Pokemon, he doesn't have a specific gender that he sticks to. It's an opportunity for Ash to express himself without being called out for being girly)

Serena and Alain just watched him float across the water, sitting and staring at the night sky, knowing that even if they admired the same person, they were still rivals with each other.

Thanks for reading! This is 2000+ words! I'm sorry if anything in this story seems wrong or just eeuugh, but as some of you may have picked up from Traumatized, I'm trying to raise awareness for mental health, LGBTQ+ and lots of other things people, for no valid reason, get judged for each day. Tell me what you think of the story!

Byeeeeeeee