"Ladies and gentlemen, this is turning into one of the most exciting matches of the year! Both the challenger and the champion are down to their last remaining Pokémon!" The announcer's voice boomed across the open-topped stadium that was structured like an amphitheatre. The hot Kalosian sun beamed down mercilessly onto the crowd that filled the stands, several fanning themselves with leaflets and empty popcorn boxes in an attempt to dissolve some of the summer heat.
Twenty-one-year-old Ash Ketchum clenched his fists, feeling the sweat on his palms from both the temperature and the adrenaline pulsing around his veins. His opponent, Diantha, stood calm and collected at the opposite side of the battlefield to the Kanto native, her face composed as her Gardevoir had just Mega Evolved in front of her. Ash, however, despite knowing what he faced before the match, was somewhat panicked. However, he had faith in his final Pokémon, his first ever, Pikachu, who stood a few steps in front of him on the battlefield, a determined look on its face.
It seemed fitting that his quest to become a Pokémon Master ended with the companion it began with.
Before Ash had time to think, Diantha called her first move, and suddenly a Psychic blast was headed toward Pikachu. Ash quickly directed Pikachu to dodge it using Agility. Diantha changed move, instructing her Gardevoir to use Moonblast. Although Pikachu was adequate at evading, Ash knew he couldn't win the match simply by being defensive.
"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!" Ash yelled. The yellow Pokémon obliged, and sent a huge lightning bolt toward the Psychic/Fairy type.
"Light Screen," Diantha calmly instructed and Gardevoir caused a window-like wall to appear in front of it, absorbing the majority of the electric attack. Although some of the attack had collided with the Embrace Pokémon, it looked barely affected. Ash groaned; he knew Diantha's Gardevoir already held a particularly high Special Defense stat, and with the additional Light Screen, Pikachu's Thunderbolt was causing barely any damage. It was then that Ash acknowledged most of Pikachu's attacks were Special based.
Shit.
"Gardevoir, Shadow Ball!" the Kalos Champion called, and her Pokémon sent a dark energy hurtling toward Pikachu, who managed to dodge it at the last second. Diantha commanded her Mega Pokémon to keep shooting Shadow Balls toward Ash's Pokémon, and while Pikachu expertly avoided them, Ash was beginning to panic. Suddenly, an idea struck him like he'd been hit with his starter's Thunderbolt himself.
"Pikachu, use Iron Tail on the Shadow Ball and send it back to Gardevoir!"
Pikachu responded swiftly to his trainer's call, and Diantha could only watch stunned as her own Pokémon's attack was suddenly careering toward it. Gardevior had no time to respond, and the Ghost type move slammed into it, causing the Pokémon to cry out in pain as it hit its weakness. The crowd erupted into a chorus of wild cheers so loud that Diantha missed Ash's call for another Iron Tail directly onto her Pokémon, and Pikachu slammed its tail into Gardevoir, causing it to crash to the floor with a heavy thump.
Diantha was impressed; not only had Ash managed to hit Gardevoir with two of its weaknesses, but he had managed to use her own attacks against her. She resigned herself to the fact that she may well lose her title in a matter of moments.
Ash was almost jittery with the rush of adrenaline; here he was, in a battle for the designation of Champion, and he was winning. He suddenly realised he might gain the title in a matter of moments. Champion of Kalos. Kalos. Thousands of miles from home.
Shit.
Ash closed his eyes and exhaled harshly as the realisation hit him. If he won, he'd have to move to Kalos, away from his family, most of his friends, his entire life. As beautiful as Kalos was, it wasn't home. He glanced at his local friends, who were sat in the front row of the stands. Clemont, the Lumiose Gym Leader who Ash had defeated a few months back, was positively beaming with excitement, his glasses almost sliding off his nose as he jumped around cheering. Beside him, his younger sister Bonnie waved a small flag saying 'Go, Ash!' and her Dedenne waved a matching, slightly smaller flag on the bar in front. Finally, on Bonnie's other side was Serena, who had her hands clasped together over her heart nervously, but she was smiling confidently. Ash smiled softly, a wave of guilt hitting him. However his thoughts were cut short as he suddenly acknowledged that the match was still underway, and Gardevoir had recovered and had sent a Psychic attack toward Pikachu, who, after avoiding it, glanced at his trainer in confusion. He saw Pikapi's sad expression, and realised something was wrong. Diantha called for a Moonblast attack, and Ash yelled for Pikachu to dodge. Pikachu waited, calculating where the attack would land. At the final moment, Pikachu jumped, and the attack hit the battlefield causing a giant cloud of dust to circulate it.
"Pikachu!" Ash cried out, concerned his Pokémon was hurt; he may not have wanted to win the match but that didn't mean that he wanted Pikachu to get injured in the process. The dust began to clear, and the crowd watched with baited breath. Clemont, Serena and Bonnie cried out in anguish as they saw Pikachu lying in the dirt, its eyes closed and mouth agape, covered in dust.
"Pikachu is unable to battle, the match goes to the defending Champion, Diantha!" the announcer called, and the crowd once again erupted into cheers. Ash ran out having called his partner's name, and scooped up the Electric type in his arms.
"Pikachu," he murmured sadly. Gardevoir stood motionless on the field, watching the trainer and his starter intently, barely acknowledging its trainer as she walked out elegantly toward them.
"Congratulations on a brilliant match, Ash. I'm sorry you didn't win, I genuinely thought you had the match for a while there, but you did an amazing job," Diantha said, gracefully. Ash smiled softly at the Champion.
"Thanks Diantha, you were great, as were your Pokémon, particularly Gardevoir," Ash replied. Diantha smiled gently.
"Your Pokemon deserve a good rest," she said, nodding to the seemingly barely conscious Pikachu that Ash was cradling. "You should get them to the Pokémon Centre."
Ash obliged, and turned to the opening in the colosseum wall in which he had initially emerged from before the match. Once he was sure they were alone and concealed in the dark hallway, Pikachu opened its eyes fully.
"Pikachu, are you okay?" Ash asked, worriedly. The Pokémon responded by sitting up energetically.
"Pi Pikachu!" the Pokémon said. Ash's face turned relieved, as his starter asked. "Pikapi, Pi Pikachu?"
"You knew I didn't want to win the match, and you want to know why?" Ash clarified, and Pikachu nodded to confirm. "I'm sorry, Pikachu, you and the others fought so hard for me out there, and I realised I didn't even want it…" He paused as Pikachu defiantly told him not to worry, and explain his reasoning. Ash explained his thoughts to Pikachu, and the Pokémon nodded, patting his trainer's arm in sympathy. Ash smiled gratefully at his starter, touched that his Pokémon could be so understanding of something that Ash found very bittersweet; postposing the realisation of his dream, but for good reasoning.
"I'm sorry about the match, Ash," Brock said sympathetically, as he finished stirring the tea he had prepared for Ash and himself. Two weeks had passed since Ash's loss, and Ash was back in Kanto, visiting Brock on his way back to Pallet Town. Brock's apartment was modestly sized, but well decorated, and Ash noted the photograph of himself, Misty and Brock in Pallet Town the year before pinned up on the fridge. The pair were in the kitchen, where Ash sat at the wooden dining table beside the counter where Brock was preparing the drinks, a pile of Brock's medical journals pushed aside to allow both of them space to sit.
"It's okay," Ash said, as Brock placed a mug in front of him. He thanked his older friend. "Actually, I kinda came here to talk to you about that."
"Oh?" Brock said, as he took his own seat opposite Ash, taking a sip of his tea.
"Brock, I threw the match."
The words caused Brock to almost spit his current sip of tea at his raven-haired friend. "W-what?" he stammered, after he had recovered. "But why?"
Ash ran a hand through his black locks, his cap discarded on the stack of medical books. "Because during the match I realised if I won I'd have to stay in Kalos, away from you, Misty, my mom. Even May, Max, Dawn, Cilan and Iris would be even further away than the already are. I'd have to give up my whole life to be the Champion of Kalos."
Brock nodded calmly. "I can understand that, but how did you throw the match? I watched it on TV; Pikachu got hit by Gardevoir's Moonblast."
"That's the thing, he didn't," Ash explained. "Somehow Pikachu worked out what I was thinking, I don't know if it's just because we're so close or it's because of my Aura or whatever, but the attack missed; Pikachu faked being knocked out."
"I imagine it's a combination of both. In my Pokémon Psychology module we learnt that Pokémon are very in tune with their trainer's feelings if they've bonded particularly well. However, that doesn't go to the extent of knowing exactly what you wanted him to do. Just as well you do have Aura, eh?"
"Well, if I did win I was just going to forfeit the title, but Pikachu managed to save me from a whole lot of questions from everyone; everybody just thinks I lost, so I just had to pretend to be miserable."
"Have you told anyone else then?" Brock asked, taking another sip of his tea. Ash placed his hands around his mug, staring into the liquid.
"No."
"Not even Misty?" Brock questioned, referring to Ash's long-term girlfriend.
"I'm going to tell her, and Mom," Ash clarified. "There's just a bit more I need to tell you first."
"Go on," Brock said, supportively.
"After the match, I thought a lot, and I decided I'd go for the Indigo League again. But the more I thought about it, the more I realised it doesn't matter if I don't ever get to be Champion. Yeah, it'd be great to be a Pokémon Master, and I know it was my dream an' all, but it's not the end of the world if I don't get that, you know?"
"Well that's a very mature way of looking at things," Brock said. Ash sighed deeply, and reached into his jacket pocket.
"Yeah, well, I've realised some things are more important in life," he said cryptically, as he placed the item he had retrieved from his pocket on the table. Brock's eyes widened.
"Is that-?" But Brock couldn't finish his sentence, for Ash interrupted with the answer to his unfinished query.
"I'm going to ask Misty to marry me."
"I'm sorry about your match, Ash," Misty said, sympathetically, a gentle smile on her lips. She and Ash were in Pallet Town, about a week after Ash visited Brock. They were sitting in Ash's back garden, on the sofa swing, gently rocking back and forth as they chatted.
Ash smiled at his girlfriend softly. "It's okay, thanks for taking time off at the Gym to come cheer me up."
"It's fine, Daisy owed me after I covered the week of your match because she had wedding planning to do," Misty scowled. Ash chuckled at the red-head's irritated tone.
"She is getting married soon; kinda important."
"Hey, your match is important too! It was a big deal!" Misty argued, then paused and chuckled to herself. "Wow, how things change in eleven years, huh? You arguing love is more important and me arguing Pokémon is!"
Ash laughed, putting an arm around his girlfriend. "Hey, maybe it's a good thing you weren't there; I'd have been distracted by your beauty and lost even worse than I did!"
Misty looked at him sideways and poked him in the chest. "I realise you're kidding, but thanks anyway."
Ash rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Well, you are beautiful, of course, I'm just not Brock."
"Thank Arceus," Misty remarked, and the pair laughed as they silently reminisced over their best friend's antics. After a few minutes of comfortable silence, the only sound the creaking of the chair as it rocked gently, Ash looked at the floor intently, and said softly.
"Actually, Mist, there's something I need to tell you about the match."
"What is it?" Misty asked, her expression drenched in concern. She focused her eyes on Ash, whilst he kept hers on the floor.
"I don't really know how you're going to take this," Ash said. "But I uh, kinda threw the match."
"You threw the match?" Misty repeated, the confusion in her tone evident. "But why?"
"Because if I won, I'd the champion of Kalos, a region thousands of miles from you," he said, simply, his eyes looking onto hers. As Misty stared back at him, she felt a myriad of emotions. His gaze was intense, his deep, brown eyes reflecting the moon and stars that floated above them, overlooking the two young trainers.
"I-I would have moved to Kalos, if you won, and wanted me there. You didn't need to give up your dream for me," Misty stammered. Truth be told, she was feeling a little overwhelmed. She knew Ash loved her, but she had never for one moment considered he'd contemplated the future, their future, and that he'd throw away his dream for her.
Ash scoffed. "You always were a hypocrite," he said, playfully. "If you moved to Kalos, you'd be giving up your dream for me; I know how close you are to getting into the Kanto Elite Four."
Misty folded her arms and huffed. "Well, sometimes you have to make sacrifices for the ones you love."
"Well, I love you, you silly Psyduck," Ash smirked, winking at his girlfriend as she scowled at the nickname. His face quickly turned serious, however. "Seriously though, Mist, the match made me realise some things are more important than a stupid title."
"What are you saying?" Misty asked gently. "It's not like you to get all deep, careful you don't hurt yourself," she joked.
Ash took a deep inhale of breath, feeling the sweat on his palms from the adrenaline pulsing around his veins. "I'm saying that," he paused, and pushed himself off the swinging chair gently. He heard Misty gasp as he bent down on one knee, and he reached into his jacket pocket to pull out the little black box inside it. "I-"
Suddenly, Ash was interrupted as a large gust of wind teared across them. Ash groaned, praying to Arceus it was merely a freak storm and not who he thought it was. Sadly, his prayers went unanswered as he heard the familiar symphony of irritating cackles as the wind deceased. He looked up to see the dreaded Meowth balloon floating a few metres above them, a large vacuum-type contraption attached to it.
"Hey Twerp, sorry about your loss the other day," Meowth said. "But we're here to take your Pikachu. He'll fit right in with us now, ya know, being a loser an' all." The cat chuckled at his own statement.
"Um, Meowth," James said, upon noticing the position they seemed to have caught the two young adults in; Ash was still on one-knee, barely having chance to react since the trio's arrival. Jessie followed his gaze, and reaching the same conclusion, also turned to the cat Pokémon.
"Meowth, wait a second…"
Their efforts were in vain, however, as Meowth blindly pressed a button on the control pad he was holding, apparently so excited to execute his plan he failed to notice the lack of Pikachu…
Ash cried out as the box he was holding was sucked up into the contraption. Misty merely stared at Ash in shock, seemingly blind to the terrible trio's presence. Ash stood onto his feet, his hand flying to the back of his belt to reach for his Pokéballs, however, before he had time to, a very annoyed Brock came storming out of the house like an enraged Mankey.
"How. Dare. You?!" he spat at Team Rocket. Jessie and James tried to speak, Meowth merely looked confused, but Brock wasn't going to allow their excuses. "I have waited eleven years for this moment," Brock yelled, pointing toward Ash and Misty. "Eleven! Do you know how much sexual tension I had to sit through?! How many nights I sat up with Misty to reassure her that one day Ash would come to his senses?! How many awkward and weird conversations I had to have with Ash about the Pidgeys and Combees?!"
"Uh, Brock, did'ya really need to bring that one up?" Ash flushed, rubbing the back of his neck. Brock ignored him.
"I mean seriously, have you tried explaining to someone as dense as Ash about things like-"
"Brock!" Ash yelled in order to cut him off quickly, his face as red as a Magby.
Brock coughed awkwardly. "Uh, right, yeah, sorry," he said to his friend, before turning back to Team Rocket. "How dare you turn up here and ruin this for me! Uh, I mean them," Brock corrected himself quickly.
"We're really very sorry," James said sincerely.
"Yeah, I'm a romantic, I would never purposely crash a moment like this!" Jessie added.
"What the heck is going on?!" Meowth cried out, only to be ignored.
"I feel terrible," James said.
Jessie agreed. "If we had any idea the twerp was going to propose-"
Meowth's eyes widened and his gaze shot to Ash and Misty. "Da Twerp was gonna propose?!"
"Yes Meowth, we tried to tell you before you set off this oversized vacuum," Jessie scowled at him. Meowth rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.
"Heh, sorry Jess," he turned back to Ash. "And sorry Twerp, didn't mean to crash ya moment, we'll get out of ya hair."
"Hey, wait!" Ash cried out. He paused, and flushed. "Can I have my ring back first?"
"Oops, heh heh, sorry kid. Yeah, course, just let me-" Meowth said, about to press the reverse button, only to have the controls snatched away by Jessie.
"Hang on a second, Meowth," Jessie said, ignoring the cat Pokémon's yell of annoyance. "I wanna see the ring first."
"What?! That's none of your business!" Ash cried out angrily.
"As a fellow woman I need to check you've got the twerpette something decent!" Jessie snapped back, as she opened the little black box. "Jeez, Twerp, couldn't you get a bigger diamond? I guess not after your loss…"
"Can I have it back now please?" Ash growled. James grabbed the box from Jessie's hand, earning an irritated cry from her.
"Here you go, Twerp," James said, as he threw the box to Ash, who thankfully captured it between his hands.
"Thank you, can you leave now?" Ash asked, rubbing his temples.
"Just one more question…" Meowth said.
"What?" Ash growled.
"Can we stay and watch?"
"Leave now!" Ash replied, answering Meowth's question bluntly.
"Alright, no need to get snippy!" Jessie remarked. "We're leaving. Good luck, Twerp."
"Yes, congratulations," James said, excitably, causing Meowth and Jessie to sigh as the balloon began to drift away. Brock, upon their departure, cleared his throat awkwardly.
"I'll leave now," he said, quickly dashing into the house.
It was then that Ash turned to his girlfriend, and noting the glazed expression on her face, he acknowledged for the first time that she hadn't spoken a word throughout Team Rocket's visit. Thinking she must be upset at one of the most important moments of her life being ruined, Ash frantically began to speak.
"I'm so sorry about this, Mist. I could kill those guys! Look, just forget this happened okay, and I'll do it another time-"
"No," Misty whispered, and his heart stopped for a moment.
"Oh, I get it. Maybe this is too soon, I mean, we're only young and-"
"No," Misty said again, realising he had misunderstood her. "Ask me now," she murmured.
"Are you sure?" Ash pleaded. "Honestly, Mist, I can do this better…"
Misty shook her head. "This is perfect," she giggled softly. "In its own little way."
Ash smiled at her softly, before chuckling lightly. "I guess it's only appropriate that Team Rocket ruins it first, like everything else."
With that, his face turned serious, and he returned to one knee in front of his still-sitting girlfriend.
"Misty," Ash said. "I haven't really planned what I'm gonna say so sorry if it's a disaster," he said, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.
Misty smiled. "You don't need to be nervous, Ash."
Ash looked at his feet and smiled. "Honestly, I'm more nervous now than I was for my Championship match. This is way more important."
"Really?" Misty breathed.
"Of course!" Ash's head snapped up and he took one of Misty's hands in his own. "Let's see, maybe getting some stupid title or asking the love of my life to spend her life with me."
"But it's your dream, Ash."
"That's the thing, though, Mist. It was. If it happens, great, but if not, I've achieved a lot of great things in my life already and I don't need a title to tell me that. Honestly, all I need to make my dreams come true is by spending the rest of my life with you."
Misty smiled gently, and looked at him lovingly as she ran one of her hands down his cheek.
"I love you, Ash."
"I love you too, Mist. Is that a yes?"
Misty giggled. "You haven't actually asked me yet."
"Oh, right, yeah," Ash said, chuckling nervously. "Misty," he said seriously. "Will you marry me?"
"Of course I will, Mr. Pokémon Master."
Ash beamed at her as he carefully removed the diamond ring from its box and slid it gently onto her ring finger. He then leaned forward, cupping her face in his hands as he kissed her passionately. She smiled into the kiss as happy tears rolled down her cheeks, dampening his t-shirt slightly in the process.
"Pikachu, Pikapi pi Pikachupi!"
Ash and Misty broke apart at the sound of Pikachu's cries. Suddenly, from the tree above them, Pikachu came swinging down, attached to a pair of vines, in a very cute Cupid outfit.
"Awww!" Misty squealed. "Pikachu you look adorable!"
"Cha!" Pikachu said happily, still swinging slightly.
Ash sweatdropped. "Oh yeah, I forgot about the Cupid outfit. That was Brock's idea."
Misty was about to speak when rose petals started to seemingly fall from the sky. Misty looked up stunned and Ash smirked.
"Bulbasaur's Petal Dance," Ash said, motioning to the tree above them, and Misty suddenly noted it was Bulbasaur's vines keeping Pikachu suspended in the air. "I guess Bulbasaur must have held onto Pikachu when Team Rocket showed up to stop him getting captured."
"Can I come out yet?" came a voice from inside, slightly muffled due to the door in its path but the tone of excitement still evident. Ash and Misty looked at each other and giggled before informing Brock he could come outside.
The older male ran toward the pair and flung himself at them, hugging them both tightly.
"I'm so happy for you two!" he sobbed. Suddenly, his crying subsided and he turned to Ash. "I am Best Man, right?"
Ash chuckled. "Of course, Brock."
And then Brock continued to sob.