Serena as we know her in the anime is technically just the player character from XY given a personality. And even in the XY games, she can become the rival if your main character is male. So since Ash is technically always the main character, Serena here is supposed to be the Serena you encounter in the games. Not saying there's anything wrong with Serena in the anime—I just wish that for once, the player character would be a rival for Ash instead of one of his friends… Anyway, I haven't heard anyone saying that pairing up Ash with game!Serena (whether player or rival) is a different shipping from AmourShipping, so let's see how Amourshippers respond to this...

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.

Summary: In a world where Serena is Ash's rival, he was her main competition to her delight, and also her crush to her sorrow. Those facts sometimes made her heart ache for different reasons. (Rival!Serena x Ash)

X-X-X

She was the daughter of not one, but two ace trainers—skilled enough to be called veterans with enough awards and trophies from Pokémon battle-related events that they had a whole room dedicated to their success. From the moment she was able to comprehend it all, Serena always wanted to have trophies of her own and always wanted to be an ace trainer like her parents. She was so enthusiastic about it, she even made a guide when she was little about how her journey would go—but that was an impossible jumbled up mess up drawings with a dark-haired boy and Pokémon both legendary and made up. Ah, that boy really did make her confused sometimes…

You see, once upon a time, there was a boy named Ash Ketchum who lived in Pallet Town, Kanto. She met him once at summer camp. Their meeting was brief, and took her being hurt to even begin, but it was imprinted in her mind for years. Ash would grow up to also want to become a master Pokémon trainer. Serena should know. It seemed like every time she researched other Pokémon League competitions to plan out her own course, there he was: winning, losing, looking cute—looking cute? Where did that come from? She'd seen him in clips on the internet for the past 5 years, and if that didn't stir up feelings of envy and admiration in her, she didn't know what would.

And to Serena's surprise, they met in Kalos just as she was beginning her own journey. Those feelings of envy and admiration prompted her to name him her rival before they even battled. Her Fennekin lost to his Froakie, but she was okay with that. If anything, the loss made her declare that when they battled again—not if, but when, as if she knew they would—Serena would win. Ash was more than happy to have another rival to compete with, and Serena was ecstatic when they shook hands in agreement.

They crossed paths several times, and even traveled together to some locations, and of course, they battled each other with all their might. It seemed like every moment she spent around him was an adventure. Through those moments, Serena could practically feel them getting closer to each other. It seemed like every encounter with Ash made her heart swell more and her face redden with a darker blush each time. But he never seems to react to that—either he doesn't mind or he doesn't care, and Serena isn't sure which reason makes her more worried. Of course, she tried to not let her feelings affect the way she acted and battled around him. After all, she didn't want to embarrass herself in front of the boy she lo…liked. The boy she liked. The boy she liked who probably saw her as nothing but a friend and a rival.

Just the thought made her chest hurt.

"Serena!"

"AH!" The sound of Ash's voice in her ear made her jump. She wound up dropping the journal that she'd been writing her progress down in before her thoughts drifted to the boy next to her.

"We saw you while we were walking down the way," said Ash as Bonnie and Clemont approached her as well. "Which way are you heading?"

She picked up her journal, being sure to close it quickly before looking at the dark-haired boy. "Coumarine City, of course, for my next badge."

"So are we!" Bonnie piped up, already enthusiastic. "Come with us, then! It's no fun traveling alone!"

"Yeah, sure! We can even train together along the way to prep up!" Ash spoke once more.

Serena wanted to say yes. A part of her did, anyway. But the part of her that wanted to be the Champion, the part of her that wavered the more time she spent around this boy said, "Actually, I think I'm gonna take it slow and train along the coast for a while. I don't wanna slow you down, so…sorry." Yes, let's stay apart. Don't do anything more to her heart. Don't make her regret wanting to be rivals.

"It's no problem. The more time we spend training, the better." At least Ash was being nice about it. Bonnie was huffing and puffing up her cheeks, upset about not being able to travel with the older girl again while Clemont was trying to assure her that Serena had her own way of doing things. And that she did. Ash was tending to be an interference, as much as she hated to say it. "But we're going to be setting up camp soon and having dinner anyway, so if you want…"

She smiled and accepted before she could control herself. "Of course! Thank you!" She soon found herself travelling with Ash and his friends once again. This wasn't supposed to happen. While the part of her that liked him was overjoyed, the part of her that wanted to win the Pokémon League was worried. Ash was her main competition on the road to her dreams, something she delighted in, and also her crush, something she worried over. He couldn't well be one or the other all the time, could he?

It was days spent thinking about this that made her heart ache for different reasons.