Chapter Two

Journey's End And Beginning

Fourteen year old Cisco stared up at the huge monitor in the stadium. A year's journey had come down to this, Final round of the Indigo League, down to his last Pokémon, but so was his opponent. His opponent… his opponent was none other than his rival and friend. Anya.

"Hey! Cisco!" Anya called out. "Come on lazy bum! No falling asleep! We made it this far! Let's finish it!" She smiled.

Cisco smiled. That's what he liked about Anya, her carefree attitude. How she always managed to not take anything too seriously, but was serious enough. This battle would in fact change their futures. The winner here would advance to become the Kanto Champion.

The crowd was going wild, cheering and hollering. Cisco scanned the stands; he saw Anya's family, her mother and father. Anya was an only child. Cisco however didn't see his mother or father. He frowned a bit. He knew his parents were always busy with work, but he'd hoped they wouldn't have missed this battle.

"Come on!" Anya shouted. She was still smiling. "Don't keep me waiting!"

Cisco managed to smile a bit.

"Valor!" He said to his Umbreon on the battlefield. "Use Shadow Ball."

Valor formed a huge orb of dark energy and fired it towards the huge orange dragon on the other side of the field. The Charizard used Flamethrower to cancel out the attack. Then it took to the sky, kicking up dust as it flapped its mighty wings. Valor turned his head away from the dust and smoke, Cisco covered his eyes. The crowd started cheering louder. Charizard was up in the sky, flying around, making itself a hard target. Then it suddenly started diving down towards Valor.

"Charizard! Use Seismic Toss!"

"Valor Agility." Cisco ordered.

Valor quickly dodged all attempts to grab him. Then he jumped in front of the Charizard and used Flash. The Charizard was instantly blinded. It lost control of its flying and crashed into the ground, kicking up more sand and dirty. Valor rushed towards it using Faint Attack. He neared the Charizard, but just before the attack hit, the Charizard slammed its mighty tail into Valor. Valor yelped and hit the ground hard. The Pokémon weakly stood up and so did the Charizard.

"Charizard Flamethrower!" Anya ordered.

"Valor Protect!"

Charizard quickly fired off a stream of super-hot fire towards Valor. Valor, just in the nick of time, protected itself with an invisible barrier, then jumped forward and used Crunch on the Charizard. It bit down hard onto the Charizard's shoulder. The dragon cried out in pain. Umbreon jumped back and used Iron Tail. It jumped towards the Charizard spinning around and slapped it with its metal coated tail. As he spun around, Valor used Metal Claw on both its front paws, slamming them both down on the Pokémon's shoulders. It looked like the Charizard was going to collapse to the ground. Charizard suddenly looked a Valor with fire in its eyes and used Blast Burn at close range. Umbreon used a Shadow Ball to try and counter the attack. There was a huge explosion that lit up the whole field. There was dust and smoke everywhere. Nobody could see the two Pokémon. Cisco was filled with suspense and worry. Did Valor manage to cancel the attack? Is he okay? The dust started to clear. Charizard's tail and head could be seen protruding through the smoke. It was up breathing hard, exhausted. Large sections of the field became visible, but still no sign of Valor. A black paw was seen through the smoke, then the legs, then the body.

"No…." Cisco stared at his Pokémon in disbelief.

"Umbreon is unable to battle!" The referee announced. "Charizard is the winner. The winner of this match and the new Champion of the Kanto Region is Anya Shard!"

Anya's face light up with shock and excitement. Cisco's eyes were filled with worry as he ran over to his Umbreon. He knelt down next to Valor and petted him lightly. Valor looked up at his trainer with sad dark eyes.

"It's okay." Cisco smiled at the Pokémon. "We tried our hardest….YOU tried your hardest."

The crowd around them was going wild. Anya's family had come down from the stands to congratulate her. Cisco ignored everything around him and focused on his Pokémon. He picked up the Pokémon and petted him. Valor tried to stand up and he got up on his front paws and jumped out of Cisco's hands. Cisco looked over at Anya. She was smiling as she was handed the winner's trophy. Cisco smiled and put his hands in his pockets and started to walk out of the stadium. Valor followed right behind him. The Pokémon refused help. The two of them walked out of the stadium and past the city that surrounded it. He stopped off at the Pokémon Center and had Valor and all his other Pokémon healed. The two of them walked silently out of the city and into the forest. Then a sudden gust of wind blew behind him, he turned around and saw Anya jump off her Charizard's back.

"You're leaving?" She asked.

He was a bit surprised to see that she had come to see him. She didn't have the Winner's trophy in her hands. She looked at him, surprise and worry on her face.

"That was a great battle." He smiled. "Congratulations."

"Thank you." She replied. "But you didn't answer my question."

"Yeah." He said. "There are more places for me to see, more Pokémon for me to catch."

"Why don't you stay and celebrate with me and my family?" She asked.

"Thank you." He said. "But I need to get a head start, so I can be the first one at the Johto League."

She frowned a bit.

"Okay…..when will you be back?"

He walked a bit closer to her.

"Soon." He smiled.

He slowly leaned forward and kissed her. She went wide eyed with surprise, but she found herself kissing him back. She closed her eyes and got lost in the kiss. She found herself blushing bashfully, biting her lip and frowning as he pulled away. He smiled at her and turned and started walking away.

"Congratulations!" He called out. "Good Luck as Champion!"

Anya got on her Charizard with a big smile on her face; they took off back towards the stadium. Cisco smiled as he walked off and slightly blushed, he couldn't believe that he had done that. But what surprised him more was that Anya had kissed him back. She did feel the same way about him that he felt about her. And that put a smile on his face.