Whatever was happening far away, Ash and the sleeping Serena naturally knew nothing about it.
But there was one problem Ash had to solve right away.
It was still summer, and with the two of them wrapped up like burritos, Ash and Serena were inevitably starting to feel overheated. Serena was already half-consciously trying to push Ash and the blanket away in her sleep.
Not wanting to disturb the girl's sweet dreams, Ash looked at Mewtwo with hopeful eyes.
"Come on, help me out, almighty Doraemon- I mean, Mewtwo!" (TN: Yk, the japanese blue cat)
Mewtwo thought for a moment, then suddenly seemed to get an idea. Its eyes lit up, and it snapped its fingers.
Snap!
A pleasantly cool gust began blowing in from the opposite bank of the river.
The instant he felt that coolness on his face, Ash knew they were saved.
Mewtwo had directly started using Icy Wind on the far side of the river. With a crook of its finger, another blast of cold air would form. It was Icy Wind in name, but in power and scale it was far beyond any ordinary Ice-type Pokémon's Blizzard.
With the river as the dividing line, this side was blazing midsummer heat, sweaty and stifling, while the opposite bank was covered in snow, with biting winds howling through it.
Thanks to Mewtwo, Ash got to experience two completely different temperatures at once, one in front of him and one behind him, and finally understood what "the best of both worlds" really felt like.
Fortunately, as time passed and the steady cold breeze continued, the overall temperature around the campsite began to drop. On top of that, Mewtwo had already calmed down from its first burst of enthusiasm and realized the temperature setting was a little too extreme.
So it adjusted the Icy Wind, warming it up a bit and reducing the airflow until the area felt like a harmless outdoor air conditioner. At the same time, it used psychic power to form a psychic mesh around Ash and Serena, sealing off the space around them so only air could get in while hail and snowflakes stayed outside.
Perfect.
Mewtwo silently nodded in satisfaction after naming the new move.
Air-Conditioning Field.
Not bad at all.
Just what you'd expect from Mewtwo.
From under the blanket, Ash gave the arrangement a wholehearted thumbs-up.
Sensing the change in temperature, Serena instinctively tucked her head in a little and hugged her "human heater" tighter.
Inside the tent, Clemont and Bonnie, both still asleep, quietly burrowed deeper under their blankets.
Deep in the forest, one Pokémon after another woke from sleep in confusion, wondering why such comfortable cool air was showing up in the middle of summer. Curious, they slowly drifted toward the riverbank.
When they saw Mewtwo, every last one of them was frightened at first.
But after realizing Mewtwo had absolutely no interest in them, they gradually got bolder and simply flopped down along the edge of the forest to enjoy the air conditioning.
Before long, with Serena beside him and a whole riverbank full of Pokémon keeping him company, Ash relaxed and drifted off to sleep as well.
As for the idiots who saw so much prey gathered in one place and thought they could use the opportunity to cause trouble and feast to their hearts' content, every single one of them was promptly sent by Mewtwo straight into the territory of their natural enemies.
You could say they got exactly the beatdown they had coming.
...
Early the next morning, Serena had no choice but to wake up. The situation with Ash's body made her flustered and shy.
She pushed aside the blanket, climbed off him, and gently lowered Ash down so he was lying properly on top of it.
Blushing, the girl lightly patted her smooth, dewy cheeks.
Now that she was fully awake, she realized she had spent the entire night sleeping in Ash's arms.
Serena felt embarrassed, but at the same time she was overflowing with happiness. Her relationship with Ash had taken another step forward, and this was basically the same as making things official.
Starting today, she would no longer be just Ash's first love. She would also be his current girlfriend.
The moment she thought about how she had clearly been there first, yet still fallen behind Misty and the others, Serena felt both happy and a little resentful.
It wasn't that she couldn't accept the situation.
She was just a little annoyed that Ash hadn't come to Kalos sooner.
No, wait...
Even if Ash had never come, she had already planned to go find him once she was an adult.
So this really was Ash's fault after all!
Running around flirting with girls before he was even grown up, what a terrible Ash!
Serena puffed out her cheeks and clenched her little fists.
Then she looked at Ash lying right in front of her, close enough for her to make out every detail, even every pore, and still not waking up.
Slowly, thoughts she would never normally have began to rise in her mind.
Leaning down slightly, she reached out and caught a strand of her golden hair between her fingers, bringing it closer to Ash's face. Her intentions could not have been clearer.
But things did not go the way Serena expected.
Just as she was about to make her move, a hand appeared behind her without her noticing, and the first kiss of the morning was launched by Ash himself.
It was a long while before their lips finally parted.
After pushing away Ash's not-so-well-behaved hand, Serena shot him a shy glare. "You were awake the whole time?"
Ash nodded. "Yeah."
He sat up, raised his Master Ball, recalled Mewtwo, and sent out Latias.
"Shift change."
The red recall beam flashed through the air.
Latias had just been planning to take advantage of the early hour to cling to Ash for a while, but the moment she looked over, she saw Serena occupying the spot on Ash's chest, and Ash's hand was still resting on her black stocking.
That was way too much.
Latias immediately got mad.
That was obviously her spot.
Pouting, Latias grumpily fluttered her jet-like wings and used psychic power to move Serena aside.
Standing up from the blanket, Serena wore a rather strange expression.
She had actually just been on the receiving end of jealousy from a Pokémon...
That was definitely a first.
The experience felt so new that Serena couldn't help finding it a little fascinating.
Latias stayed sulky until Ash reached out and started petting her. Only then did she brighten up again, eagerly pushing her head into Ash's palm and affectionately rubbing against his cheek.
Ash wrapped an arm around her neck and pulled her close, thoroughly enjoying the cuddle.
Daily legendary cuddle, complete.
Daily Ash cuddle, complete.
Human and Pokémon each happily came to their own conclusion in silence.
With her eyes narrowed in delight, Latias quickly went back to being clingy, sticking close to Ash every step of the way.
At the same time, she was in such a good mood that Ash did not even have to say anything. She took the initiative to share the work, using psychic power to send the blanket and bedding back into the tent.
After that, Ash woke up Clemont and Bonnie.
The four of them washed up by the river one after another, then ate breakfast together. Through it all, Latias never left Ash's side.
That was when Serena truly realized that Latias's affection for Ash had already reached the point where she could officially be considered a romantic rival.
"Hehe... what am I even thinking?" Serena suddenly laughed to herself.
The sound naturally drew puzzled looks from Ash, Clemont, and Bonnie, so Serena hurriedly waved her hands and said it was nothing.
After breakfast, the four of them resumed the special training they had not finished the day before.
With yesterday's experience behind them, Ash no longer needed to be present. Just Clemont, Latias, and the Pokémon that needed to gain levels were enough to recreate yesterday's training process.
Ash did not go with them.
Instead, just like the previous morning, he split off from the group on his own and began a skill-training session with the shiny Ralts and Fletchling.
By the end of the morning, Ash had successfully helped the shiny Ralts master Calm Mind.
The next move they tried to learn was Psychic, to make up for its lack of a powerful same-type Psychic move.
Fletchling also successfully learned Sunny Day and U-turn.
Rain Dance was still a work in progress.
In the afternoon, after regrouping with everyone else, Ash had the two Pokémon set aside their move training for the time being and took them, together with Froakie, into real battle so the three of them could fully integrate what they had learned.
After a full day of special training, both Froakie and the shiny Ralts reached the target level of 15.
Fletchling was only one step away from evolving into Fletchinder.
At this rate, by the time they reached Santalune City, it would probably evolve naturally.