"𝓣𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓮 𝓲𝓼 𝓷𝓸 𝓹𝓪𝓲𝓷,𝓘 𝓸𝓯𝓽𝓮𝓷 𝓯𝓮𝓮𝓵, 𝔀𝓱𝓲𝓬𝓱 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝔀𝓲𝓵𝓵 𝓷𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓻 𝓴𝓷𝓸𝔀.
𝓘𝓽 𝓬𝓪𝓾𝓼𝓮𝓭 𝓫𝔂 𝓪𝓫𝓼𝓮𝓷𝓬𝓮 𝓸𝓯 𝔂𝓸𝓾."
                                          -𝒜𝓈𝒽𝓁𝑒𝒾𝑔𝒽 ℬ𝓇𝒾𝓁𝓁𝒾𝒶𝓃𝓉

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"Ash... my faith in us is breaking... I only want to hear what you think of me... Because if those thoughts are not the same as mine then... I don't know what I should do... What do I think of you...? I love you... what about you? Ash?"

Slowly, I remove my robe, allowing it to flow freely. I knew that this was my chance, my only chance to catch his eye if only for a moment. My heart was a float on a cloud and my mind clear of worry, there was no better time. I could see Bonnie, Clemont and Ash stare at me with eyes of amazement as they saw me in that beautiful, blazing bikini that showed almost every inch of my almost perfectly kept skin. I felt on top of the world as I ran towards them with their eyes glued onto me. As I entered the water Bonnie swam to me, hugging me tightly as she seemed to be the most impressed.

"Wow Serena, you look soooo cute" She squeals happily! "I agree, that swimsuit really fits you!" Added Clemont as he swam over to me. Ash was a bit farther away so Clemont took advantage of it to whisper to me. "Hey... Are you feeling okay?" I simply nod in response, smiling in order to reassure him that I felt much better now.

However, that feeling would soon be over as Iris attracted everyone's attention. "Hey guys, wait for me!" She yelled as she let her hair loose, letting her very long hair flow down to her knees. She looked very beautiful but it seemed Ash wasn't really watching... that was until Iris threw off her beach robe. She wore a pure, white swimsuit that was one piece but had no straps and was open on the back and stomach.

Iris was amazingly beautiful with her chocolate coloured skin standing out so radiantly against that suit as her dark, purple hair framed her entire body like a gorgeous veil. Ash froze where he was, staring at her with wide and seemingly shocked eyes and so did the rest of us. After a few moments of silence Iris blushes and scratches the back of her head nervously as she becomes bashful from the attention.

At that moment, she looked so beautiful with her true beauty shining through as a wild but kind and determined person... a kind of beauty I could never match... I couldn't believe this, not for a second but it was as clear as the day. She was bashful... and shy... but so great with pokemon and playful... Perfect for Ash... "Iris, wow you look so amazing!" said Ash as Iris finally entered the water with a blush still on her face. "Umm... t-thanks Ash... Clair helped me pick this out in Johto! It looks nice doesn't it?"

"It looks excellent on you Iris, I don't think that swimsuit would look as good on any other girl!" said Clemont as he swam over to her and Ash with Bonnie right behind him.

"Who knew that there was a girl under all that rough and tough!" teased Ash which got Iris to puff her cheeks and shove him playfully, replying with "OH? And who knew you could be such a kid!" Everyone laughs from her remark, all except me. I stood in the place I was before, looking down at the water for I couldn't watch anymore. I shivered as I bit down on my lip as hard as I could, trying to hold back my tears but... I knew... It is done now.

It was clear to me that doing all this, going after a dream where I fall in love with a person who's had more wonderful friends than anyone... I was just a friend... and that hurt... It hurt more than anything I ever had to endure. Iris was truly beautiful, soul and all just the way she was... but me... I never had the guts to even be myself around Ash. I could never connect to Ash like she could because me and him barely know each other... we're strangers to each other... All this time, the dream that I would fall in love with the boy who found me alone in the woods afraid and hurt after being startled by a  was nothing more than just a dream... and finding him again all these years later was bad luck or false hope playing me like a puppet.

"So, hey, let's play Marco polo! I'll do it!" cried Bonnie which everyone agreed too happily. While they all cheered happily I just stood there nearby, nodding to show that I wanted to play just in case anyone was watching me. It was clear that no one was though because even Ash could see I was in shambles and shards, shattered by the hand of reality.

As Bonnie closed her eyes and began to swim around, shouting 'Marco' the others scattered away from her and replied 'Polo'. Using this to my advantage I began to swim away as far as I could as I tried to contain the storm building up in my heart again but I couldn't do it. As I swam away tears began to flow down my face and blinded me as I swam further and further away. Soon, I was so far away I couldn't even hear Ash and the others anymore, feeling the beach get rockier under me.

Soon, I bump into a fairly large rock sticking out of the water since I could not see it. My eyes were so tear stained I couldn't even see where I was anymore nor what was right in front of my face. Even so I just didn't care, I just wanted to scream and yell as loud as I possibly could. My heart was in pieces and crushed into dust, nothing else mattered to me. In desperation to hide away, I swam around the rock, finding it connected to a strange, hidden shore that was surrounded by rocks and had a large cave you could swim into.

Slowly I dragged myself onto shore and began to sob as loud as I could, crying and yelling all my pain out in a more powerful struggle than before. I had no attacks left to express my pain, all I could do was struggle wildly, suffering from the horrible recoil damage from every cry and yell that escapes my body. Soon, out of pure despair I yell at the top of my lungs, falling to my knees in pain. I could hear my own yell echo through the area.

"Polo!" cried Iris as she tried not to get caught by Bonnie as she was the last one who hasn't been caught. But her number was up with Bonnie's sharp hearing and she soon caught her in happy giggles. "Aww no, you got me!" Bonnie kept her eyes closed so as not to cheat. "Who's left?"

"Well, you got me, Ash and Iris so only Serena is left... "Clemont says and quickly scans the area to find her only to see me nowhere in sight. "WH-where is Serena?!" Ash looked around frantically, completely panicked to see me gone. "Serena? Serena?!" Suddenly, they hear my blood curdling scream across the sea which makes them go into full frenzy mode.

Again, from the extreme pain I felt inside I fainted onto the sand, unaware of the sheer panic my pain filled screams brought to my friends back at the beach. From here no one could find me, crying in my sleep.

When I woke up I found myself under a sea of stars against the inky background of the sky as night time had cover over me. Slowly I stood up, using the rocks as a balance as I remembered what had occurred earlier these last two days. Some might say that I was thinking with a broken heart and that my judgement was not to be trusted but in my eyes... I knew what I had to do.

It was clear that I wasn't anything more to Ash than a friend and even if he didn't love Iris I knew he had to love someone that he had travelled with before... or maybe he didn't love any of them at all... All I knew was that I wasn't even in the running for his heart. Thinking of it like that made me very sad... and I knew if I kept travelling with him I would suffer from the constant knowledge that being with him would bring me nothing but agony from the constant reminder that we would never be.

So right here right now I will thus forth travel on my own, away from Ash and the others... I'll never give my heart to anyone ever again... "I... need to tell them... But..." I swim around the corner and slowly sneak back onto the main beach. Upon walking up the beach I found the beach stuff we had set up still here which gave me my biggest clue to book it as fast as humanly possible.

If they caught me now I'd have to confront them and tell them what happened... and I couldn't face Ash... not now... I just had to make it back to the hotel, pick up all my stuff and leave... much easier said than done, especially with no shoes and just a swimsuit that was covered in sandy filth. My only saviour was the fact that the Hotel was nearby but the trick was getting through here without being seen. As I got closer I used the bushes as cover, looking everywhere to ensure that I wouldn't be seen by anyone... Thankfully, because it was late not a lot of people were around right now so sneaking in was easy.

I saw that no one was in the lobby so I was able to rush upstairs and reach my room fairly easily. It appeared that the others hadn't returned yet, probably still searching the beach for any signs of me...

"Clemont! Look!" Cried Bonnie as she finds a clue in the sand thanks to her Dedenne. Everyone had their pokemon combing the beach for clues. "It's a red ribbon, it looks like one of the ones Serena was wearing in her hair right?!" Clemont runs over to Bonnie and looks at the ribbon closely. "Yes, it is! Ash! Iris! We found a clue!" In a frantic state Ash ran over Clemont, grabbing him from his shoulders and looking at him with a look of clear distress. "What is it?!" Quickly Iris pulled Ash away from Clemont in order to try and keep him from stressing out Clemont. "Ash, calm down! We'll find her!"

"Calm down?! CALM DOWN?! WE heard Serena screaming in clear pain and you want me to CALM DOWN?!"

"Ash! We won't find her if you don't chill! I know you're worried, we all are, but we're not going to get anywhere if you calm down and let Clemont do his thing okay?" He was still very distressed but still managed to calm down a bit so Clemont could focus on tying the clues he had together. "Okay... so the ribbon was here and... Hey! There's footprints heading back towards town... Maybe Serena went back to the Hotel?"

"Well! Let's go!" Ash ran at full speed, not concerned at all about whether or not the others could keep up. His concern for me was his driving force and he wasn't about to stop now... if only I had known at the time... For at that moment I had just finished rinsing off the sand from my body and had changed into my travel clothing. "... "As I placed on my boots I grabbed my bag and prepared to leave only to stop. I couldn't just leave like this without saying anything...So, I pulled out a piece of paper and wrote a note for them all…

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