[Serena POV]

“... Just really weird to know that Calem was beaten by someone.” Miette said casually, we were walking to the school cafe for lunch. We heard the news that someone had beat up Calem yesterday. When we reached the cafe, we met a purple eyed, bruised face Calem with a small plaster around his left wrist.

“hey dude who did this to you?” Tierno asked, he had seen him like this just now. “Ugh.. just some stupid thug. He was actually trying to torture a lady but I interrupted him and got beaten up. But the lady was saved.” Calem replied. “Wow dude, you actually helped a lady from a thug. That's real macho Man.” The guys appreciated his work.

But for some reason I felt that his story was fake. Also it was unnatural for Ash to not come to school today. I don't think any bad thing would have happened to him when he left after leaving my home. Anyways I can meet him at his house.

Suddenly I remembered something, I put this question to everyone on the table. “Hey guys do you know that Ash is an orphan. Since I am partnered with him for my assignment I came to know about it yesterday.” “Yeah, I knew it from the very beginning.” Calem replied, some of my friends nodded in agreement while some.. “well, I didn’t know about this, anyways it serves him right. A person as disgusting as him should not be having someone to care for him.” Misty spoke, everyone laughed in agreement.

I was disappointed at my friends, they were acting so rude towards Ash. I felt disgusted, my friends had such low thought for Ash. As much as I wanted to disagree with them, I couldn’t. I was worried that if they came to know that I was caring for ash, what would they think of me. As a conclusion I replied what I thought was right for the moment.

“So I guess this news wasn’t really surprising. Well I need to go to the washroom so I’ll meet you guys later…” in this way I didn’t really agree with them nor I exposed that I was caring for Ash. I stood up and made my out of the cafe, i wasn’t really wanting to go to the washroom, I just wanted to get away from them.

---Time skip---

I was going to Ash’s house. Today I was all alone in the forest. As I was walking I again spotted the same Torterra from yesterday blocking my path. He wasn’t looking in the mood to let me go ahead, so I tried to talk to him in a polite way. “uhh.. hello Torterra, My name is Serena and I just want to go to my friend’s house. So if you please move aside…” I said as I moved one step forward, but he made a grunting noise and stomped his left foot on the ground making my flinch. I was so scared to do anything so I stood there for some more time when I saw Pikachu coming my way.

He came and started conversing with Torterra. Torterra looked at me one last time before moving away. I breathed a sigh of relief the looked at Pikachu. “Thank you Pikachu.” I said with a smile. Pikachu just turned his head the other way and started walking. “Still not convinced with me, being Ash’s friend…” I muttered under my breathe and followed Pikachu to Ash’s house. When I walked in, I saw nurse Joy. I was confused at why was she here. On seeing me, she came to talk to me.

“Hello I’m the nurse Joy from the Lumiose city Pokemon Center. Are you a friend of Ash?” she asked, “Uhmm.. not really, we are doing an Assignment together so I came to his house. By the way I’m Serena.” I replied, “Nice to meet you serena, I came here to look on Ash’s injuries, apparently someone attacked him last night.” she told I was worried on hearing this. “what? How is he now?” I asked her worryingly. “Well he’s doing fine now. He is in his room sleeping. I need to go back to my center but I was worried for him, but since you have come I’m happy. You’ll take care of Ash, right?” she asked, I nodded. “I can do that, just tell me the medications.” I replied, nurse Joy gave me some instructions then left for her pokemon center.

I went up to Ash’s room and opened the door. I entered the room and saw him sleeping on his bed. I closed the door and walked near him. He had his shirt off and his abdomen was covered in bandage. Perhaps he was attacked on his stomach. Pikachu was there too, he just sat there and stared at Ash with sadness. I felt bad him, he always cared for Ash. “Hey don’t worry Pikachu. Ash will be fine.” I said calmly. But pikachu looked at me with anger then turned his face away.

I sat there staring at Ash for a long time. I had no one to accompany me. While waiting I decided to do my homework. I heard Ash move, when I raised my head I saw him trying to get up. I quickly went and placed my hand over his head and gave a small push to make him stay down. “Don’t move, you’re hurt.” I spoke, Ash looked at me and smiled. “Hey, thanks for taking my care.” He spoke softly, his voice was dull. “No problem. I was actually worried when you didn’t show up in school.” He chuckled at my reply. “If i’m not wrong then earlier you wished for me to not come, and now you were worried for me?” I pouted at him, “Very funny.” I said sarcastically. “But how did this happen to you?” I asked.

[Ash POV]

---Flash-back---

I dropped Serena at her home then made my way back. As I was walking I noticed two person talking, on closer observation I saw it was Calem and a girl about an year younger than me. By the looks of it Calem was flirting with her and the girl did not feel comfortable. I decided to help that poor girl, I walked straight to them and placed my hand over Calem’s shoulder and pulled him away from the girl. On noticing me his eyes widened, then he gave a smirk.

“Well, well, the outcast Ketchum is trying to be a hero.” He said with a wide smirk, which I didn’t like. “Leave this girl alone.” I retorted with venomous voice. He didn’t seem to flinch a bit. “It’s none of your business what I am doing. Go away.” He shouted. “Well if an innocent person is being tortured by someone then I’ll help him no matter what.” I replied. “You’re no match for me.” he yelled then charged at me. He started using punches and kicks to attack me but I dodged them all. He was surprised to see me countering so well. As i continued to dodge his attacks and countering them, Calem swung his fist out of the corner and landed a hit on my face. I was stunned for a moment then I lost all of my control and punched him so hard that he fell to ground.

I turned and walked to the girl, who was standing there watching the fight in fear. “Get out of here before any- AAAH” I screamed as a sharp pain surged through my body. I saw that Calem had stabbed me in the stomach with a knife. In a split second, I grabbed his wrist and twisted it then punched him on the face really really hard. he fell to the ground unconscious. The pain was so killing that I couldn’t even stand firmly, I dropped down on my knees. The girl rushed to me and asked if I was okay, “No, It’s paining-Aah, to much!” I replied in pain. She quickly called the ambulance, by the time it came Calem had got up and ran away. I didn’t have energy to stop him anymore.

I was taken to the hospital where nurse joy checked on me, she cleaned the wound and wrapped it in bandages. Officer jenny was also called since it was an attempted murder case. She enquired the girl about the situation. Later after taking my words she dropped me and the girl to our homes.

---Flash-back ends---

After telling the whole story I looked up and saw that Serena was almost crying. “Hey, you don’t need to cry. Everything is fine now.” I said in a soft tone. “But it all happened because you came to drop me home. It’s my fault.” she spoke with every word threatening her to cry hard. “No, it’s not your fault. Really. Now stop crying.” I replied, I felt bad for her. “I’m sorry…” she whispered. “It’s okay, now stop crying.” she wiped her tears and gave smile.

“Okay since you are hurt so you should rest, I’ll bring you something to eat. What would you like?” she asked, I gave her a quizzical look which confused her. “What?” she asked in confusion. “ I think my brain’s gonna explode. First you felt bad for me, then were worried when I didn’t come to school, next you were crying for me and now you’re ready to nurse me. Am I dreaming or what?” she gave a cute smile and said, “Just tell me what would you like?” I thought for a moment, “Macarons?” I asked if she knew, “I’ll be right back in a moment.” she said and left the room.

I sat here silently looking at my wound. It was a really deep cut. Then I noticed someone I hadn’t from the starting, Pikachu. He looked unhappy, maybe because I was busy talking to Serena. I gave him an apologetic look, "Sorry buddy, I didn’t notice you there.” I apologized. “pika-pi, chu pikachu.” He said that he didn’t trust this girl. “Pikachu what did I teach you. Have faith in Everything. Whether it is good or not.” I said, “pikaahh…” he sighed saying alright.

Soon serena came back with a plate full of macarons, I picked one and tasted it. Boy! It was so good. “Wow, these are really great. Thanks.” I said, “Thanks, I made some for pikachu too.” she said, she extended the plate towards pikachu. But he turned his face away. I gave him glare on which he sighed. He hesitated before slowly approaching the plate and picking up one macaron then ran back to my side. He nibbled on the macaron silently without any expression but I knew he liked them.

After finishing the macaron he wanted more so he again went forward to pick one, again he ran back after taking it. I found it funny that he was liking them but did not want to admit so I started chuckling. Serena also joined me. This made pikachu embarrassed, he hid his face under the cover then peeped out from the corner. “Come on Pikachu, we know you liked them just admit it.” I said, he slowly came out of the covers and sat in front of the plate quietly eating the macarons, now happily.

“Hey Pikachu, I’m sorry. I promise now I will never do those things to Ash. Will you forgive me?” Serena said quietly.

Pikachu looked at her for a few moments then jumped in her shoulder and started snuggling her face. Serena was a bit surprised by this behavior but recovered soon and started enjoying it with Pikachu.

“I'm glad you forgave me Pikachu.” she said, Pikachu licked her cheek which have her giggle.

“Well, it's all good at last.” I said, they both looked at me and nodded. We talked for some time then it was time for Serena to go back home. Since I wasn’t in the condition to go with her and now that Pikachu was happy with her, he insisted to go with her to drop her home.

Once they were gone I laid back on my bed, thinking about our assignment. Tomorrow it would be my turn to tell about myself. I wonder how will I be able to tell her about who I really am.

To be continued...

Hey, I actually forgot about this book. Sorry to keep you waiting.

Enjoy the chapter.
See you in the next update, either in this book or the other one.
Good bye.