Ash never left Serena's side, far too worried about her. He trusted that in Nurse Joy's care, Greninja would be alright in no time, but Serena wasn't a Pokémon and what had happened to her wasn't exactly a common occurrence.

So there Ash stayed; right beside the unconscious girl, her hand resting gently in his. He refused to move from her side. He ate, but not nearly as much as the normal Ash did, and he only ate if one of the others brought him something he could eat without moving away from Serena or breaking contact with her. As for sleep, he downright refused.

The group were worried about him ever since they returned with everyone yesterday. They'd gotten all the Pokémon back except for Greninja, who had needed emergency treatment after Nurse Joy discovered his condition. Nobody could bring themself to tell Ash the truth at this time, so he'd instead been told that Nurse Joy had decided to keep Greninja on observation since she didn't know exactly what he'd been through with the Aether Foundation, but that it was nothing serious.

Ash didn't even seem to hear the others when they spoke to him, but in reality he was just too busy trying to process all the information buzzing in his head. In all the time he'd spent journeying around regions, he'd never faced an issue like this. Sure, sometimes he or Pikachu had almost 'died', but never anyone else.

Never Serena.

But the worst part of his worry for Serena? The one thing that made it all so much worse that even Ash Ketchum, known for his optimism and eagerness to overcome any obstacle with a smile on his face, was feeling devastated and horrible?

Ash believed that it was his fault that Serena was like this right now.

He should've woken up when she was being kidnapped, he should've woken up earlier to see that Serena wasn't where he last saw her, he shouldn't have wasted time looking through her house for her...

But the thing he blamed himself most for was touching her when he found her; the moment their hands made contact, his aura had flared up again, this time out of his control. Then it had spread to Serena. For a fleeting moment he'd thought he'd seen a spark of relieved recognition in Serena's eyes, but then she'd collapsed, the power driving her unconscious.

He blamed himself for this. He should've left her be. Then she wouldn't be unconscious. He should've contained his aura. He should've found another way to get her out of there. He should've just battled Poipole.

Then he remembered.

Poipole...

He reached into Serena's pocket and pulled out the Beast Ball, tossing it into the air. "Poiiiiii!" Poipole greeted excitedly, then stopped when it saw Serena. "Poi?" It asked quietly, floating over to her.

"I don't know how to help her, Poipole," Ash said sadly. He would normally have talked to Pikachu about everything, but since Poipole was the only Pokémon around at the moment, he suddenly found himself needing to vent to someone he trusted. He always had great listening companions in Pokémon.

"I'm really worried for Serena. I hope she'll be alright. I just want her to wake up. She means a lot to me."

With those few words, Ash began pouring out all his worries to Poipole, who for once knew better than to treat things as a game and became a most attentive listener for Ash. It heard about how Ash and Serena first met, how they met again in Kalos, their journeys through Kalos, parting ways, meeting in Alola again, going back to Kalos, Serena getting kidnapped, everything.

"Thanks for listening, Poipole," Ash sighed eventually. "I really needed someone to talk to, I guess." "Poi," Poipole hugged Ash gently. Ash returned the gesture.

A tiny groan made them both look over to Serena.

She hadn't moved, her lips hadn't parted, her eyes hadn't opened, but Ash was certain that it was her. "Serena? Serena, do it again if you can hear me!"

Another tiny groan from Serena.

Her eyelids began to flutter slightly, but they didn't quite open. Ash shielded the light with his hand so she wouldn't be blinded if they did. "Serena, it's Ash. I'm right here. Please wake up. Please."

Serena kept groaning. Her eyelids kept fluttering. But slowly the groans began to strengthen and grew louder. "... A-Ash..." she eventually managed to say.

And then her big, beautiful violet eyes opened.

Wait...

Violet?

Ash had seen her usual sapphire blue eyes that he adored so much. He'd seen her cold blood red eyes that were caused by Faba's cruel mind control. But he hadn't seen Serena with violet eyes before and he wasn't sure if this was good or bad.

"Serena?" He whispered. Serena slowly sat up, looking down at her hands as though they were an alien concept to her. She formed fists, then relaxed her hands again, seemingly testing the joints to make sure she was still in control.

"I'm free..." she said. "I can move on my own again. I'm back."

She looked up at Ash and he looked back at her. He sat down beside her and looked into her eyes. She looked back into his.

Suddenly Ash's aura flared up again and leapt to Serena, engulfing the pair. Before Ash could do anything, it was over again. He looked at Serena, shocked.

Her eyes began to fade from violet back to their natural bright blue.

Serena leaned against Ash weakly. "Are you okay, Serena?" He asked gently, lying her down again. "Y-Yeah, just really tired," she nodded, looking up at him. "What happened?"

"I'll tell you later, you get some sleep," he told her, smiling very slightly at her. It was the first time he'd smiled for a while now. Serena smiled back a little and closed her eyes again. It took very little time for her to be fast asleep once again.