Hi everyone!!  SK here.

I don't have much to say, so let's get into the chapter now- enjoy!!

Edit May 22nd, 2020: Happy Birthday Ash :D

Ash

I wake up to someone rapidly shaking my shoulders.  I blearily blink open my eyes and I see Serena's smiling face.  "Serena, it's too early," I complain, wanting to close my eyes again and fall back asleep.  

"No no no!  Maybe any other day, but not today!" the urgency of her voice actually wakes me up a little, and I quickly began to think something's wrong.  However, she stops when I tell her these thoughts and she reassures me that everything is fine.

"Then what's the rush then...?"

"It's your birthday, Ash!  Come on, up up up!" I laugh as I let Serena pull me up.  She's right- I had completely forgotten I'm turning 20 today.  I'm 20 years old... how the time flies.  

"I brought you some breakfast," she adds, handing me a plate of delicious-looking food.  "I thought you would want one meal in peace before all the celebrations start.  Oh!  Happy birthday, by the way," she adds at the end, a slight blush on her face.  "Trust me, I know you'll enjoy today.  You'll be having birthday celebrations fairy-style."  This earns a small chuckle from me.

I start to eat the meal Serena brought me, making sure to share a bit with her.  "What's planned for today?" I ask, relishing the flavours of the fluffy eggs and soft pancakes.

"Most of it's a surprise," she admits to me.  "But I can tell you that you'll get to be doing something you love."

I look at her, feeling a mixture of confusion and excitement simultaneously.

"Oh Ash, there's something I've been meaning to tell you..." Serena's voice trails off.  "It's really important, can I tell you please?"

I nod.  "By all means, go ahead-"

"Serenaaa!" Bonnie enters the room, stopping Serena from saying anything.  I look at her, and I can tell that she is a little disappointed.  

"What is it, Bonnie?" I ask curiously.

"Happy birthday by the way!  I just wondered if I could hear about-"

"Clemont?  No problem, I'm just having breakfast anyway.  It's okay, right, Serena?" I glance over at her.

I can tell she is upset about not being able to say the thing she wanted to say, but she nods anyways.  "It's okay, I know Bonnie really wants to hear about him.  I'm curious too," she adds cheerfully.

I smile at the two fairies.  "I guess it's story time then." 

"How has he been doing since I left?" Bonnie's voice is so enthusiastic that I can't help but smile.

"He really misses you," I tell her.  "You were everything to him."

Bonnie gives us a knowing look.  "So I was to him like Serena is to you?"

Right on cue both of us go red, and Serena fumes at her friend.

I cough then clear my voice.  "I-I guess so." I look at Serena to see her reaction, but she doesn't seem to have any objections to my statement.  Does that mean...?  I shake off the thought.  I'm going to confess to her today anyway.  I'll have my answer.

"But yeah, he's pretty much the same," I tell Bonnie.  "He still loves inventing things and coming up with the silliest of names.  He's started researching Pokemon now too- I think he wants to work for someone like Professor Sycamore himself one day."

Bonnie smiles sadly, looking as if she was about to cry.  "I r-really miss him.  I wish I could see him again, say a proper goodbye."

"I'm sure he feels the same," I told her encouragingly, knowing that it's true.  

"Thank you, Ash," she says, going to exit the room.  "I'm going down- you two should come soon too, everyone's waiting."

"R-Really!?  Well, okay then- hey, Serena, isn't there something you wanted to tell me?" I ask once Bonnie has disappeared from sight. 

She shakes her head.  "I'll tell you tomorrow- I don't want to cause you any distress before your Initiation."

"When is that, by the way?" I don't know why, but I feel some overwhelming need to prepare for it even though I have literally nothing to prepare.

"It's later today," Serena answers.  "Heliux will get you for it, and I'll be there too."

I nod.  "Thank goodness, I don't know if I could do it without y-"

"Sorry, just a moment- Sylveon!" I glance over to where Serena is calling, and sure enough, her Sylveon sits sleeping in a far corner- I hadn't even noticed her at all.  As soon as Serena calls Sylveon jumps up looking delighted, and walks up close to Serena while wrapping one of her ribbons around Serena's arm.  Sylveon, I can tell, is made of mist now, but she still has retained lots of her original colouring.  A thin trail of mist connects Sylveon to the center part of Serena's Necklace, which I presume is some kind of Soul Connection.

Serena smiles at me.  "Sorry about that, but I just wanted to get Sylveon up so we could go- speaking of that, we should probably be getting down, everyone's probably waiting.  Whenever there's a celebration, we always do huge festivities... today's going to be wild," she says as her eyes light up.  "But I have to go down and start everything off."

I nod.  "Make me a portal, and we're good to go."

"Right!" Using her magic, Serena makes us a portal and we step through it and onto the main plaza in the camp's center.  Today is the last day I'll be needing her portals because I'll finally get wings of my own.

In a flash everyone spots me and Serena, which prompts them to gather around us.  She hovers slightly above the ground, and from the way the edges of her dress are blowing in the wind, she looks regal and majestic... even I'm in awe at the sight of her.  She is... just beautiful.

"Good morning, everyone!" she says happily, and all the fairies in the crowd cheer.  I spot Heliux at the back of the crowd, with only the slightest of smiles on his face.  We make eye-contact, and he gives me a small nod.

"I'd like to formally start the celebrations for the birthday of Ash Ketchum, the next fairy to join the Colony."  More cheering.  Oh, so it's a Colony.  Noted  I can officially say I know what to call this place now, yay!

"Does anyone have anything to say before we begin?" Everyone remains silent, but I can see anxiously excited smiles on everyone's faces.

When no one has answered, Serena nods thoughtfully.  "Very well then.  Since we are on Celebration Scheduling, we will postpone any regular tasks, unless they are important, to tomorrow.  Today's events will be as follows: there will be a dance here, where we are all standing now.  The Battle Arena will have a constant referee for those that wish to have battles; this will be open all day.  Later in the afternoon, we will have a performance at the stage, and then," she says, looking at me, "we will have Ash's Initiation to finish off of our festivities."

Serena smiles and then proceeds to conjure a large burst of magic that almost looks like fireworks.  "Let's begin!"  Her words are instantly followed with cheers, and it's now that I really get to see how popular she is amongst all the fairies.  

Almost at once, all the fairies separate.  Many of them head past me to the Battle Arena, while many others stay back to dance to the music that has just started to play.  Many of the fairies wish me happy birthday as they pass me.  I'm tempted to go and follow them, but Serena pulls on my arm.  

"I know you want to battle," she tells me.  "But please, just stay for a couple minutes.  After the first dance is over, I want to have a dance with you, pretty please?"

I chuckle.  "I'm not any better at dancing than I was when we were both human, but of course, Serena.  Anything for you."

"Thank you, Ash!" Serena stays in the center of the circle while everyone else clears the space.  I spot Dawn pretty close to me, so I go to ask her what's going on.

"What's happening?" I whisper to her.

"The first dance," she whispers back.  "The dance after this isn't formal at all, but Her Lightness must have the first dance with the Magic Minister.  It's tradition- happy birthday by the way!" Dawn adds happily.

"Th-Thanks," I reply sincerely.  I gaze back at Serena and realize who she will be dancing with.

Heliux.

For some reason, it makes me feel all tense inside.

Heliux walks up to Serena, formal as always, and extends his hand toward her.  She smiled and takes it, and the two begin to dance.

Soulful violin sounds fill the air, accompanied by the lightness of a pan flute and tin whistle.  The gracefulness of the three instruments truly enhance the feeling of their dance, and the whimsical feeling that lies in the air.  I'll admit, Heliux is a very good dancer.  But no one can compare to Serena- she shines like the brightest diamond.  Her dress flows as light as feathers.  I also notice a blue ribbon in her hair that dances with her, and I recognize it instantly- it's the ribbon I'd given her all those years ago.  She'd still kept it.  Sylveon stands to the side watching Serena dance, but I can't see any Pokemon connected to Heliux, even if he doesn't have a Necklace.  I wonder what his Mist Pokemon is.

Her smile is none like I'd ever seen- except she's smiling at Heliux, not me.  Heliux returns it, ever so slightly, and I'll admit that's the first time I'd ever seen him really truly smile, even a little bit.

Wait... Serena wanted to tell me something.

Something important.

I look back toward her and Heliux.

Did she want to tell me that... she is in love... with him?

I stare at their graceful dance.  They both seem in sync with each other, and my heart drops like a rock in a pond.  She's in love with him, isn't she.

Maybe that's why she wanted me to stay.

She wanted to me to see her dance with him to tell me.

Yet, I still can't be sure if that is true.  After all, Serena still seems to like being with me, and even this morning she didn't object to me saying that she means everything to me... well, Bonnie's words, but they were true, so they count.

Almost as soon as it started, their dance is over, and I clap alongside everyone else.  She waves goodbye to Heliux and approaches me, the music turning into a more upbeat song when she comes.  She holds out her hand, her smile somehow brighter than it had been with Heliux.  "Ash, I invite you to a dance."

I smile, then bow regally.  "Of course, I'd be honoured, Serena."  I let her lead me to the center, where she takes my hand and smile.

"I have to warn you, I'm not very good at this," I admit, feeling a little self-conscious.

She giggles, then tosses me an even sweeter look.  "It's okay, Ash.  It's not formal anymore, so you don't need to worry, even though you never had to."  With that, she begins to dance.  She's even more graceful dancing close-up, and although I try, I know I can't compare to her.  Our dance is far from what hers and Heliux's was, but somehow, I like it just the same.  

"Hey, Serena, are you going to be performing at the performance today?" I ask her casually.  She'd said she still performed sometimes, so I'm hoping her answer is a yes.

To my delight, she nods with a wink.  "Perhaps.  Will you come watch?" 

I flash a grin at her.  "Of course!  I absolutely love watching you perform."  Sylveon yips in agreement beside us, making Serena's face light up.

"Thank you, Ash.  If you want, you can head to the Battle Arena now, I know you've been wanting to.  I hear there are quite a few who want to challenge you," she adds with a glint in her eyes.

"Will you be coming?" I ask her before I leave.

She nods.  "Of course!  I absolutely love watching you battle." She uses my phrase, but I can tell she really means it.  I give her a small wave and head off in the direction I'd seen the fairies go earlier, the dance music fading away as I move farther and farther away from it.

Time to show them all what Ash Ketchum is made of.

I've noticed the chapters have all been getting to around 2000 words lately, but I'm just warning you they won't always be that long (Edit: Yeah, they are always that long and longer).  But yeah, the chapter has ended, and I hope you enjoyed it!  Next chapter, as you might guess, has Ash doing some battles.  

I'll try to update it this weekend, but that chapter will probably be SUPER LONG (I mean probably closer to 5000 words if not more), so it might take longer.

One last question: Who do you think Ash will battle next chapter??

That's it!!  Stay tuned for more, everyone!! :D