Hi everyone!!  SylveonKwami here.

Sorry about the late update- I got busy yesterday, and it's like 10:00 where I am (PM).  So yeah... it's pretty late.  So sorry about that.  WHY ARE ALL MY UPDATES ALWAYS LATE AJSKLSDJFKLSDJFKLSJ-

BUT- on a better note, we've reached the 20th chapter!!  And we almost have 3K reads, and almost 200 votes!!  I feel this story has come a really long way from where it first started.  And it's all thanks to you all, you wonderful people who actually read this story (even though it's trash pretty much), so thank you!!  I still can't believe the story is almost complete.  It will have about 30 chapters when it's done I think.

Anyways, why am I boring you with this stuff!?  You came here to read this chapter.  Which, by the way, might be less exciting than usual (especially compared to the last chapter XD) but yeah.................

(SORRY FOR THE REALLY LONG A/N!!)

Enjoy :)

Ash (It's been a while)

For Ash and Serena, the day was... well, interesting.  Serena had woken up first, leaving Ash in a state of panic because he hadn't seen her in the tent.  His first thought was that she'd gotten lost or had died or something drastic, but then she'd came into the tent all smiley, and he couldn't help but blush.

"Morning Ashy~" she'd said, testing out the new nickname.  He didn't mind it one bit.  Well, she didn't call me the stupid name Gary calls me, so it's fine.

They'd went out for breakfast, holding hands and such.  They were trying to make it obvious that the two were now a couple- but with the group being as dense as ever (except Bonnie of course, who smiled knowingly but said nothing), they had to take it a step further.

So that was when Ash decided to kiss her.

On the lips.

For a good minute.

In front of everyone.

Needless to say, everyone's reactions were priceless- at least to Ash.  Bonnie ran away squealing about "AMOUR IS CANON I GOTTA TELL THE FANBASE" or some other nonsense, which seemed off to Ash because it wasn't like it was summer weather- why did she need a whole base of fans?  Did she want to refrigerate herself or something?  Ash was very confused.

Some of his friends gave him thumbs-ups or "Congratulations!", and all his friends seemed to accept it pretty well.  Serena's face was so adorable- she was blushing throughout the rest of the meal.  When they'd gotten back to their tent, she'd pouted at him to not do that again.  Ash had laughed, but since he loved her, he told her he'd give her a few seconds notice.  She'd gotten all red-faced again, and it continued like that for most of the morning.

The afternoon was pretty chill.  He and Serena came up with a plan to surprise the Pokemon that came with them last night, as a way to say thanks for all their help.  With the help of Clemont, he and Serena had made special PokePuffs, and Ash had kept the Pokemon distracted.  It's what he did best, after all.  He could be very distracting where he wanted to be.  But in the end, the Pokemon all seemed to love the present, which was nice.  Just because he was with Serena now, it didn't mean that he was going to neglect his Pokemon.  What kind of Pokemon Master would do such a thing!?

Now, it was around midnight.  Ash was asleep... well, he was trying to sleep... well, he couldn't really sleep.  He was just feeling really restless.. so he got up and crawled to Serena's side of the sleeping bag, hoping to give her a cuddle or two.

Well, she wasn't there.

Panicked, Ash ran out of the tent, calling her name.  "Serena?  Serena!  Serena, can you hear me!?"

Surely enough, he spotted her in the distance, gazing up at the stars.  He sighed fondly, then walked over to join her.  He sat next to her, staying silent at first.

"...you couldn't sleep either?" Serena asked, not taking her gaze away from the sky.

Ash sighed.  "Yeah... what's on your mind, Serena?"

She sighed too.  "It's just... do you ever wonder when this curse thing will be done?"

"You mean the shrinking?"

"Yeah."

"Well, we have to find an Espeon with it, right?" Ash checked.  When Serena nodded, he added "So, we just have to check every Espeon we see.  And since Clemont already checked the one here with us, we still have to search-"

"But Clemont said the chance is really rare," Serena interjected.

"So?  When have chances ever stopped us?  Remember, don't give up until the end!" Ash added, smiling warmly at his girlfriend.

"I know... it's just been hard.  I keep having these feelings of hopelessness, dread, sadness that I'll never be able to accomplish my dreams-"

"What?  I think you'd be a perfect Kalos Queen, even at our size," Ash said sweetly, giving her a peck on her cheek.  She blushed for a few seconds, then turned away.

"What about your dream, Ash?  How can you battle Pokemon when... well, you know..."

"Well, I admit that it'll be tough," Ash admitted.  "But, in the mean time, I can train.  I can still do that.  And when we return to normal, then I'll start earning Gym Badges again, and I'll become the strongest trainer in Kalos, then the world!"

Serena still looked distant.  "Aww, what's wrong?" Ash asked, leaning closer to her.  She leaned her head on his shoulder, looking tense.

"I'm just so scared all the time!" she burst out.  "I'm scared that we'll never get back to our normal heights.  I'm scared we'll never get to achieve our dreams.  I'm scared we'll be living useless lives, worth nothing to everyone-"

"Hey, hey, hey," Ash said, stroking her back.  "Take a deep breath.  Take is easy for a second."  He waited a few moments for her to calm down, and he spoke to her.  "That last point you said is void, because you will always be worth something to me.  Don't ever forget that.  And although it may be hard to get back to our normal heights... we'll do it.  We're determined.  And once we do, the world better watch out, because we're going to reach our dreams no matter what."

Serena smiled a little.  "Y-You think so?" she asked.

Ash smiled warmly at her.  "I don't think so... I know so."

They stayed there for a few minutes, until Serena started to yawn.  Ash pulled her to her feet, yawning a little himself.  "Come on, time to sleep," he said, walking back towards their tent.

"Only if I get cuddles," Serena retorted, and he laughed.

"Of course," he replied, feeling so happy he could burst.

~^.^~

"Ash!  ASH!  Wake up!" Serena shouted in his ear.  He shot up with a start.

"Serena!  Why did you have to do that?" Ash said, frowning a little.  He quickly became confused, however, when he saw the look of happiness on Serena's face.  Additionally, when he looked outside, he could just barely see a dawn light coming into the tent.

"Come, Ash!  It's happening!  It's really happening!" she said, practically dragging him out of bed and pulling him towards the tent entrance.  She started running, and he ran with her, their hands locked together.  They stopped at the Pokemon tent, where Serena shushed him.

"We have to be quiet," she explained.  "Inside, look!"

Ash peeked inside, and at first he couldn't see anything different.  But then he noticed it- a faint yellow glow.

Coming from Espeon's headstone.

Ash looked at Serena, that same look of happiness on his face.

"D-Do you know what this means?" he asked, feeling shocked and happy and confused and excited all at the same time.

"We can go back to normal!" Serena squealed, hugging him, then kissing him passionately.  He kissed her back, too happy to do anything else.

At last, we can start our future together.

Hi again everyone!  I hope you enjoyed the chapter.. sorry if it was boring or felt a little rushed.. I am very busy, so this was all I could muster.  But still, I hope you liked it at least.  

Anyway, I'll end it here, because there isn't much to say.  Update in two weeks, if things go right!!

Stay tuned ;)