*Note: due to Patreon's regulations, I won't be able to upload +18 chapters in Patreon so these chapters will be published in my Discord, link in my Patreon page. But I advise you, you won't be able to read these chapters if you aren't suscribe. Thanks for you understanding and sorry for leave you waiting.
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That was the story of how Ash met Serena and gained another fiancée, all in a single summer… but it didn't end there. Ever since Ash and Serena became friends, Serena started following Ash everywhere like a leech. This mildly annoyed Leaf, who wanted to use that summer to confess her feelings to Ash. Serena quickly noticed Leaf's feelings for Ash and was overcome by a sense of rivalry — a rivalry that continued throughout the rest of the month. Childhood friend versus childhood friend, a fierce but somewhat uneven battle, since Leaf had already been friends with Ash for years while Serena had only known her for a few weeks.
However, the story didn't end there as one might think. There wasn't a normal goodbye between two friends. A few days before the end, Serena confessed her feelings to Ash and also became his fiancée. When she confessed, Ash — who didn't understand what having a "girlfriend" or "fiancée" meant — simply accepted. His reasoning was simple: since Leaf had asked him a few days earlier and they were friends, he accepted. And since Serena was also his friend, he had to accept her too. He couldn't treat them differently. After all, both were his friends. It was the kind of reasoning a small child who doesn't understand the world or its complexities would have.
The reason Serena — a shy girl who only talked to Ash and Leaf — confessed to Ash was because a few days earlier she had witnessed Leaf's confession and how Ash accepted it. Seeing that, she felt her heart break and a wave of anxiety washed over her. If Ash and Leaf were now dating… didn't that mean Ash would discard her? Serena couldn't bear it. She simply didn't want to leave Ash. So she gathered courage she didn't even know she had and confessed. It was a complete success.
After that, once the month ended and everyone returned home, Serena said goodbye to Ash with a smile, promising they would see each other again in the future. When she was old enough to start her journey, she would definitely go look for him in Pallet Town and travel with him. After making that promise, Serena left… and seven full years had passed since then.
"ANOTHER FIANCÉE?!" Giselle exclaimed angrily.
She could tolerate Leaf (more or less), but now there was another fiancée she hadn't even seen in 7 years? How many more secrets was Ash hiding?
"Uh… it's not that I was hiding it. I simply forgot about it until now…" I said, feeling rushed.
Giselle's anger was obvious and I didn't want to provoke her any further.
"Ash, I didn't know you were such a playboy. How exciting!" Verity said with a smile.
Giselle looked at Verity. Exciting? What was exciting about this?
"I didn't know you were so popular with girls… looks like I need to step up my game," Neesha said.
Though she said the last part so quietly that no one heard her.
"Ahem. Even though I already knew, I don't mind," Leaf said.
"How can you not mind?" Giselle asked, not understanding.
Why wasn't she angry about it? Giselle simply couldn't understand Leaf.
"It's simple. Seven years have passed and they haven't even contacted each other since then. That girl has probably already forgotten about Ash. Why should we worry about some random girl?" Leaf said.
"Oh, right. Seven years have passed. That girl must have forgotten about Ash," Giselle nodded.
…
Kalos Region, Vaniville Town.
The Kalos region — a wonderful and beautiful region said to be where Mega Evolution first appeared. But right now we won't focus on its history, but on one specific person. In a rather large house in Vaniville Town lived a family of three: Grace, Serena, and Serena's father, who had gone abroad to work a couple of years ago and still hadn't returned.
Grace, Serena's mother, was a famous and now retired Rhyhorn racer. In simple terms, it was an elite sport very similar to horse racing, except instead of horses they used Rhyhorn, and the terrain wasn't smooth tracks but natural obstacle courses. Riders not only had to demonstrate strength but also their bond with their Pokémon. Grace developed such a strong bond with her Rhyhorn that she was crowned champion for nearly every year of her career, only losing at the beginning when she was a rookie with little experience.
Of course, Serena had turned out as beautiful as her mother — perhaps even more so — but unfortunately she hadn't inherited her mother's social skills. Serena had always been shy and introverted. At school she had no friends and was often bullied because of her personality. Her mother had tried to fix this problem many times without success. In one of her many attempts to help Serena integrate, her tutor recommended sending her to a summer camp to interact with children she didn't know in a new environment. Although her mother was very skeptical at first, she eventually agreed. The problem was she didn't know which camp to send her to. There were too many, and few interested Serena, who flatly refused to go to any camp. With a heavy heart, her mother forced her to go, thinking it might be what she needed. Serena spent days in her room in protest, barely eating or drinking and only leaving to go to school. But everything changed one day when Grace saw an advertisement on television.
The ad announced that Professor Oak, the most famous and influential Pokémon Professor on the planet, would be holding a summer camp and that 20 children would have the opportunity to spend a month in Pallet Town to learn more about Pokémon. Grace was partly happy and partly sad. Happy because the camp was perfect — something simple, of interest to Serena (Pokémon), with few children, and even though it was very far away, she was determined to help her daughter. The problem was that the camp was for very few children. Twenty was a tiny number compared to the amount of fans Professor Oak had, and she was sure the spots would fill up quickly. Luckily, the ad said it would be done by lottery and not first-come-first-served. Still, not trusting it much, that same morning she sent in her entry form.
When she got home that day, she told Serena what she had done. Surprisingly, Serena didn't get angry — she got excited. Serena was a huge Pokémon fan. She loved them, and like others who loved Pokémon, she adored Professor Oak. So going to a camp and learning from him in person was simply thrilling.
Her mother, happy for her, prayed to God that her daughter would get the chance to join the camp. It was what she needed and she actually liked it.
Months passed and the time finally came to reveal the winners. But it wasn't done through normal methods — it was by letter. The winners would receive a letter on a specific day without delay. If you didn't receive it, you weren't selected. If you did, congratulations — you had been lucky enough to participate in Professor Oak's summer camp.
Impatiently, on the day the letter was due, Serena woke up early. The mail wouldn't arrive until late morning, but she had barely slept the night before, wishing for the next day to come and praying she had won the lottery. Her mother didn't have high hopes. In fact, she had no hope at all and was already planning to send Serena to a similar camp. She had researched numerous camps for months and found one very similar in Sinnoh, but she decided to wait until today to tell Serena so as not to ruin her excitement. But as already mentioned, she had no hope.
Surprisingly, when the mail arrived, there was a certified letter from the Kanto regional government saying Serena had been selected as one of the participants for Professor Oak's summer camp. Serena was overjoyed. She hadn't smiled like that in a long time. She had won the contest — a contest thousands of children had entered — and she had been one of the winners! The reward: a summer with Professor Oak, her idol!
On the other hand, her mother Grace was also surprised because she had no hope that Serena would win, but amazingly, fate had given her daughter — and her — a chance. Yes, it was destiny that she had won when she needed it most, when she had prayed for her daughter. It was definitely fate! Both mother and daughter spent the day together, overjoyed.
Summer soon arrived, along with Serena's departure for the camp. Serena was very excited, but her mother was very sad and worried. What if Serena didn't make any friends? What would she do if she didn't integrate? Would they bully her there too? Questions like these kept circling in her mind, but in the end she held back the urge to stop her from going and let her leave.
No one took you to the camp — you had to go to the Kanto region yourself. Luckily for the contest winners, the trip was completely free (round trip), courtesy of the Kanto government. Parents had to pay the full fare or bring only one relative and get a 50% discount on the round trip. Each person chose what suited them best.
After dropping Serena off at the camp and returning to Kalos all in the same day, Grace collapsed onto her bed, exhausted both physically and mentally. Of course she had given Serena a phone (Smart Rotoms didn't exist seven years ago) so she could talk to her, but she still didn't feel at ease. They were a mother's worries — nothing to be done about it.
The following days weren't very good. Serena called every day saying she was having fun but unfortunately hadn't made any friends. Luckily she wasn't crying because she was enjoying herself, but the same problem remained: Serena simply wasn't socializing with the other children. Grace was glad her daughter was having a good time and was truly happy about it, but on the other hand she no longer knew what to do to help her daughter integrate. However, everything changed less than two weeks later.
That day, Serena called saying she had made a friend. The boy's name was Ash, a camp participant who lived in Pallet Town and who had "coincidentally" also won the contest. But Grace couldn't care less about those details. What mattered most was that her daughter had made a friend — her first friend since she was born! You can imagine Grace's joy as a mother when she heard that her daughter, who had never had friends, had finally made one! That day, Grace cried with emotion and prayed that she would keep the friendship.
In the following days, Grace could see her daughter much more lively, happier, and content. According to her, Ash had a childhood friend named Leaf, and she had become friends with her too. Two friends! Grace was over the moon. Her prayers had finally been answered, her efforts had finally been rewarded, and she couldn't feel happier because for a mother, her child's happiness is the most important thing!
The days passed and Grace noticed Serena stopped talking about the camp and started talking more about Ash. Almost all her conversations centered on Ash — what they had done together, where they had gone, what they had talked about, everything. To someone else it might have seemed tiresome, but Grace loved that her daughter was such good friends with this Ash and even wished she could meet him to thank him.
Almost four weeks had passed, but three days before the end, Grace received surprising news. Her daughter had confessed her feelings to Ash and he had accepted! For Serena it was a dream. For Grace it was joy that her daughter had finally experienced her first love — just kids' stuff, but something that had never happened to her until now. Unfortunately, everything comes to an end, and the camp was no exception.