It was Ash on his Staraptor, the very sight of them in person again brought tears to her eyes.
"Ashhh!" Angie ran towards him as fast as she could, she couldn't believe it was really him. "I knew he'd come back." Ash just began to land his Staraptor.
"Staraptor, return," Ash said as a red beam shot out from his poké ball and Staraptor was absorbed into the poké ball. "Angie!" He ran up towards her.
The two stopped a foot from each other and took it all in. This was something Ash had been waiting for, and that Angie hadn't seen coming. Ash extended his hand out and Angie knew what he was expecting. She put her hand out and they performed the secret handshake they did back at the Summer Academy. This time however, when Ash tried to retract his hand, Angie was hesitant to let go. "Remember Angie, don't let him go again," was the thought that travelled through her mind. Angie used his hand to pull them into a hug. "Hi Ash, how are you?" Angie said trying to stop Ash from seeing her rosy cheeks.
"I'm uhh… I'm just fine," Ash replied, also trying to hide his cheeks. He looked down and saw Pikachu and Shinx having a very animated conversation, and also saw an Espeon silently sitting beside them, but it didn't distract him. He was too focused on Angie. "How's it going?" Ash quickly tried to find something to say.
"Oh, it's just great," Angie said. "Now that you're here," she whispered that last part hoping Ash wouldn't hear. The two released from their hug. "Come on, we're going on a walk, you should come with us."
"That sounds great," Ash looked at Pikachu, "Do you want to go for a walk?"
"PikaPi," Pikachu said as he ran ahead.
The five of them continued down the path. Ash was nervous though, and this wasn't the nervousness he was used to with battling. He didn't want to screw up this moment just like he did at the Academy. "A friend," he thought, "Why can't I do this? I just placed Top 4 in all of Sinnoh, and battled in front of thousands of people and cameras, and now I can't even talk to a girl?" He started to look downwards a little bit.
Angie noticed this, and trying to change the subject asked, "So where are Brock and Dawn?"
"They wanted to go straight to Twinleaf and didn't want to take a long way, so we went our separate ways for now because I wanted to come visit you before I head back home." Ash noticed this comment had made Angie smile and her cheeks very red. He hadn't forgotten how cute she looked when she blushed.
"Well, I'm glad you made the journey out here. It was getting pretty lonesome and it was such a great surprise," Angie said, "You should stay for the night, it's getting pretty dark." In reality, it was actually only quarter to four, but she was trying to get the most time she could with him.
Ash looked up. The sun was still out and flocks of Starly could still be seen in the distance. Ash had already told Dawn and Brock that he would try to be in Twinleaf later that day, but he did say try, didn't he? He looked down towards Pikachu, "Do you want to stay the night?"
Pikachu jumped up onto Ash's shoulder and said "Pikaaa!"
Ash instantly replied, "Yeah, we'd love to."
Angie was relieved to hear Ash say he'd stay the night. The long time to respond and asking Pikachu made her fearful he might refuse. "Awesome! When we get back, you can have the guest room." With that settled, Angie continued trying to find topics of conversation. "So… How awesome was the Lily of the Valley Conference. I watched you battle every day."
Ash began to smile, knowing that Angie had watched him battle. Every time he battled, whether it was against Nando, Conway, Paul or Takuto, he always scoured the audience for Angie, and every time there was no sign of her. "Yeah, I thought you would," Ash said.
"Well, you made it into the Top 4, but I could've done better."
"No way, we tried really hard! You wouldn't have made it into the top 32."
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah!" They both remembered about when they used to bicker at the Summer Academy. The time when they fought over the Poké ball, and when they fought while running laps, and even when they fought to win the triathlon. They always had a competitive spirit and a fierce rivalry.
"Please, I could've made it to the final match with my eyes closed," Angie said jokingly, even though she knew she had no chance of making it that far. "But honestly, I'm proud of you, getting that far against some of the toughest trainers in all of Sinnoh."
"Yeah, and I've never felt closer to any of my pokémon, they always have my back." This was something she had expected for Ash to say. How it wasn't him, but it was all of them who contributed to his success. "Race you to the daycare!" And just like that, Ash was off with Pikachu following close behind.
Angie began to run. "You're not going to win this time! Come on Shinx and Espeon, let's go." Angie didn't want to lose to Ash in a race again, and with this goal in front of her, she ran faster than before. Ash tried to keep his lead, but as the house got closer in view, Angie managed to pass Ash.
When they arrived at the house, Angie had won. Shinx and Pikachu started to run around and play with each other. However, shortly after they both got to the porch, they sat down, completely out of breath. "Looks like you still remember ladies first," Angie said, followed up with uncontrollable laughter from the two of them. When Ash managed to stop laughing, he said, "You just got lucky, that's all."
"What's going on around here?" Angie and Ash turned around to see Angie's parents looking at them through the window.
"Ah!" The two both stumbled to get up and dust themselves off. "Nothing,"
"Ash, is that you?" Angie's mother suddenly recognized him. She then turned towards Angie and winked, which caused Angie to blush. "How are you? We saw you during the conference on TV."
"Yeah, it's me. I decided to visit before I continued on my journey." Ash replied, embarrassed by all this sudden questioning.
"Mom, is it okay if Ash stays the night?" Angie asked while trying to cover up her rosy cheeks.
"It's perfectly okay." Angie's mother looked at Angie expectantly, causing her to blush profusely. "He can have the guest room."
"Thank you," said Ash, thankful he could spend at least one more night with Angie.
"Now Angie, I believe it's your night to prepare dinner. Would you like to help, Ash?" Angie's father said.
"That'd be cool, if it's okay with you, Angie."
"Thanks Ash," Angie said. "Race you there," she said as she ran inside towards the kitchen, followed by Ash.
"Did you see that?" Angie's mother asked. "They're such good friends."
"You can tell there's something really special there," Angie's father added.
"Do you think Ash knows Angie likes him?"
"I'm not sure, but I know our Angie, and if she likes him, he will know."
"Do you think Ash likes our Angie? I mean, you saw how they connected."
"I don't know. We just have to wait and see. But if he does, they could just take over the daycare."