Chapter 4: Day X
It was a fairly cool morning in Pallet Town. 5 teens and a single Pikachu were up bright and early, just as the sun began to rise. They were sitting in Ash's backyard under a lone tree.
It was Day 1 of their final. Needless to say, they were all pretty nervous.
To Ash, the silence was overbearing.
"What do you guys say? Wanna get one last practice in?" he said, trying to pull everyone out of their thoughts.
No one responded.
He jumped up, looking at the others. Everyone had a nervous look on their face.
"Come on guys, we can't just sit here sulking, let's get our mind off it," he said.
That was when he spotted a cocky smirk appear on Gary's face.
"While I do agree we should train, we shouldn't waste our energy," Gary said.
This caused Ash's face to take a sad expression.
"But," Gary said, causing Ash's head to snap up. "We still have a whole day to let our Pokémon rest. What do you say to a Pokémon battle Ashy boy?"
"I'm down, let's go Pikachu," Ash said with a smile.
Pikachu slowly walked over to Ash, rubbing his eyes to get the sleep out of them. He took a relaxed stance on Ash's side of the field, clearly not taking it seriously.
Gary silently laughed, realizing Pikachu's laziness and backed up some distance so the little Pokémon didn't have to walk.
"Ready Ashy boy?" Gary said with a smile.
"Whenever you are," Ash responded.
Gary tossed a ball forward, releasing Wartortle, who immediately took a battle stance.
"Care to ref Red?" Ash asked.
Red nodded and stood up. He got between the two trainers and raised his arms. He then dropped them, signaling the start of the battle.
"Pikachu, Thunderbolt!" Ash commanded.
Pikachu yawned before assuming a battle stance. Before he could launch the attack, Ash heard Gary call one.
"Water gun!" Gary yelled.
Wartortle launched it as soon as it hit his ears, blasting Pikachu directly in the face.
This pushed him back a little bit. Gary saw this woke him up, smiling seeing the results.
"Oh he's getting it now!" Pikachu thought.
He jumped into the air and did a front flip before launching a bolt of lightning that hit Wartortle directly. Wartortle grunted in pain from the super effective attack.
Wartortle still got up, despite the super effective attack.
"Alright Wartortle, we gotta switch up. Use Withdraw!" Gary yelled.
Wartortle sunk into its shell, raising its defense.
"Pikachu, use Thunder Wave while he's vulnerable!" Ash called out.
Pikachu charged up and released an electric pulse. As it hit Wartortle, the paralysis kicked in, causing Wartortle to come out of its shell.
"Now we've got 'em, use Slam!" Ash yelled.
Pikachu jumped up into the air and started descending onto the turtle with speed.
"If that attack lands, there's no way Wartortle is surviving. I guess I gotta pull my trump card and go for broke," Gary thought.
He waited until Pikachu was close before calling his attack.
"Wartortle! Surf!" Gary cried.
Wartortle then spawned a giant wave, knocking Pikachu back to Ash.
"He knows Surf?!" Ash and Pikachu thought simultaneously.
"He really doesn't want to lose," Ash thought with a smile.
Pikachu got back up and shook off the excess water.
"Alright, if you wanna use TM moves, I can use TM moves," Ash said. "Pikachu use Flash!"
Pikachu jumped up into the air before emitting a bright flash of light.
"Thunder Punch, now!" Ash yelled before the light even faded.
Wartortle uncovered his eyes to see Pikachu with its fist covered with electricity, smashing it into his chest. This caused Wartortle to fly back to Gary's feet, kicking up dust as he skidded.
As the dust faded, Gary saw Wartortle unconscious.
With a smile, Gary returned Wartortle. Pikachu ran back to Ash and jumped onto his shoulder.
"I should've known you'd be making Pikachu stronger," Gary said.
"I should've too, that Surf really caught us off guard," Ash replied. "You really gave us a run for our money there."
The other 3 watched the friendly exchange.
None of them said a word during the entire battle, thinking of strategies to counter the two.
"Anyone else care to battle?" Ash said.
The three were then broken out of their thoughts, looking back at Ash and Gary with blank expressions.
Red just shrugged, got up, and walked to one side of the field.
Leaf contemplated battling her twin, but decided against it. Serena got up, but didn't move to the other side.
Red looked at her with a competitive smile which she returned.
"I'll battle Red," she said confidently.
She released Braixen before walking to the other side.
"Okay Braixen, we're battling Red again. We're not gonna pull our secret moves out alright?" Serena said.
Braixen nodded her head and put on a smile.
"Alright let's go," Serena said.
The pair walked over to the other side. While they were talking, Red had already released his Charmeleon.
Ash stood in between the two, taking the position as referee. He raised his arms to point to both trainers.
"This will be a 1-on-1 battle, Red vs Serena. Trainers, are you ready?" Ash yelled.
Both Red and Serena nodded.
"Battle begi-," Ash yelled. He was about to drop his arms to signaling the start of the battle, but a voice caught his attention.
"Hey guys, I don't mean to cut you short but it's just about 6 now, we should start getting ready," the voice said.
Everyone turned to see Leaf already set to leave.
"Well, I guess we'll have to battle another time," Serena said with a smile.
Red looked back and returned the smile. He then returned Charmeleon while Serena decided to let Braixen do what she wanted to do.
Braixed decided to stay outside and lay underneath the tree.
The rest of the group all piled inside, Leaf and Serena discussing what they would make for breakfast.
"Trying to kill some time lil Pika?" Gary asked while smiling.
Pikachu knew the smile Gary had and jumped on to his shoulder before they ran up the stairs.
"I hope Gary doesn't break anything else this time…" Ash mumbled to himself.
Red decided he had nothing better to do and sat on the couch to watch TV. Ash felt he was too lazy to walk to the living room with Red, but on the inside he just wanted to be around Leaf.
He sat on top of the table, letting his legs dangle while watching the pair of females discuss cooking techniques like they've done plenty of times in the past.
Leaf noticed the raven-haired lad and decided to reward him for staying.
Just then, she heard Serena open the fridge and start rummaging through it, looking for God knows what. Leaf turned around to face the boy and wrapped her arms around Ash's neck, pulling him close.
Ash put his hands on her waist, making it easier for the girl to press her body against his.
They quickly brushed their lips together before letting them fully interact.
"Hey Ash? Where do you keep the eggs?" Serena said, her head still buried in the fridge.
Just then, Leaf decided to make life hard for Ash.
She grabbed his member through his pants, causing the boy to stiffen up fairly quickly.
"It's uh… in… the uhh…" He tried to respond but Leaf was making it very difficult.
She'd never done this before, leaving Ash to decide what to do with this new sensation.
"Never mind, I found it," Serena said while closing the fridge.
The sound caused Leaf to stop dead in her tracks and step away from Ash.
"You okay though? You see-," Serena turned around, not expecting to see what she saw.
The pants that Ash was wearing wasn't very restricting.
Needless to say, Serena was pretty surprised to see that Ash had "pitched a tent." Her cheeks turned fire red, before turning away quickly.
"I didn't know he was so… LARGE," she thought to herself.
Ash's face also turned red hot when he saw what Serena had stared at briefly. He quickly fixed himself as soon as the honey-blonde turned away.
Leaf witnessed the entire exchange, not particularly enjoying how Serena reacted.
Because Serena had her back to the couple again, Leaf decided to calm herself down by messing around with Ash again. She wrapped one hand around his neck and put the other on his thigh.
This time, Ash wasn't having it.
"What are you doing?!" Ash hissed in a hushed tone.
"I'm just having a little fun," Leaf whispered seductively, rubbing her hand closer to his private zone.
"Leaf, we are 14! We're way too young to be doing these things!" Ash whispered, more aggressively this time. "Besides! Serena is right there!"
She ignored him briefly, grabbing his shaft before speaking again.
"Well it's not like you or her are stopping me," she replied while licking her lips.
She had a point, Serena was too embarrassed to meet the boy's eyes so she didn't want to turn around at all, while Ash was just silently scolding her.
When Ash didn't respond, Leaf started slowly pumping up and down, causing light growls to come from the boy.
"Leaf… Stop…" was all he could manage to whisper.
She leaned forward, making sure to put her mouth to his ear.
"Make me," she hissed.
This sent Ash over the edge.
Overwhelmed by this new sense of pleasure, he viciously grabbed Leaf's behind, squeezing her cheeks roughly.
She let out a light moan which Ash took as a 'good job' signal.
"BREAKFAST IS READY!" was the statement that broke them out of their sex-crazed frenzy.
Their eyes met, a look of fear in there eyes.
"Do you think she heard us?" Leaf said.
The table was a good 10 feet from the stove. Although it was just stopped, the sizzling from the pan created a fairly impressive amount of sound.
Judging by Serena's body language, Ash determined that she didn't but was still shaken up by the past events.
He shook his head to the worried girl, who then let out a sigh of relief.
She leaned back into Ash's ear one more time.
"When we get old enough, you better fuck me real good," she whispered seductively before stepping away.
This left Ash redder than a tomato, reaching levels of redness beyond what he had reached a few minutes ago.
Serena then turned around and noticed the other female for the first time since she "left."
"Oh Leaf, there you are. Where were you? I thought you were gonna help with breakfast," Serena said, a hint of concern in her voice.
"Oh! I was uh… outside. I had to clear my mind, that's all," Leaf replied nervously.
"I guess the final is getting to you huh," Serena said.
"Wow I completely forgot about that," Leaf thought to herself.
"Yeah, it's a little daunting but I'm good now," she said aloud.
Leaf then walked to the living room to retrieve her brother.
"That's good," Serena said. "Ash, get off the table, it's meant for food, not your ass."
"Huh? Oh, sorry," Ash replied, being snapped out of his thoughts.
The words Leaf last said to him were on replay in his head.
"Do I tell Gary? No, I don't think so, that's a little private," Ash said.
"Go get the boys upstairs, hurry up," Serena said, snapping him out once more.
Serena was carefully moving food from the pan to several plates, assuring each person got an equal proportion.
"Ugh, fine MOM," Ash said aggressively.
He jumped off the table and started walking towards the stairs.
His last statement caused her to blush intensely and loosen her grip, almost causing the pan to slip out of her hand.
"You can't call me that right after I saw your cock print through your clothes!" Serena said mentally.
She had to stop what she was doing to settle down or she probably would've spilled something.
Once Ash reached the top of the stairs, he took several deep breaths, trying to calm his nerves from the events before.
He heard cheering from the other side of the door to his room which caused to remember why he climbed the stairs in the first place.
"That was some good shit, lil Pika!" Gary said as Ash walked through the door.
"Pika pikachu!" the little yellow creature replied.
Judging by Gary's reaction, Ash assumed Pikachu had complimented Gary.
Pikachu tilted his head slightly as he saw his trainer pop through the door.
"Hey guys, breakfast is ready," Ash said.
"Alright, we'll be down in a little bit," Gary replied. "I don't know who taught Pikachu how to play, but he is damn good Ash, much better than you."
Ash couldn't help but feel a little hurt by the statement. However, Gary wasn't lying, Pikachu was much better than Ash at video games.
When they were younger, Ash taught Pikachu how to play, which Pikachu quickly became addicted to. Ash started finding Pikachu stay up later and later hooked on playing a random assortment of games.
It had even gotten to the point that Pikachu took Ash to buy games for him.
"Whatever Gary, let's just eat," Ash said with a little hurt in his voice.
Pikachu then scurried up to him, jumped on his shoulder, and rubbed his cheek on Ash's head, letting him know that he was loved, whether he was good at video games or not.
Gary got up soon after and followed the pair downstairs into the kitchen. Everyone else was already sitting, waiting on the final 3 to get to the table.
As they came in and sat down, everyone began eating.
The meal was fairly silent, the 6 youngins slowly picking away at Serena's eggs, bacon, and toast. Everyone's mind was more occupied with thinking of plans to counter each other's fighting style than to hold a friendly conversation.
They all knew that in a few hours, they'd be enemies.
Once everyone had finished their delicious meal, Ash took everyone's dishes and put them in the sink. He subconsciously began washing them, completely forgetting that it was Serena's 'favorite' method of clearing her mind and she would rather be doing it.
Ash thought she was full of shit when she first mentioned that, but that wasn't what was cluttering his mind at the moment.
His mind was more focused on, you guessed it, the first day of the finals.
Serena saw that he was really going at it, making her believe that he was troubled. She quickly glanced around the room and saw that everyone had left, leaving her and the lad alone.
"It works wonders huh?" Serena said.
"Huh?" Ash said confused.
He wasn't expecting anyone to be there.
"You're washing the dishes. I thought you said I was a liar when I said it was soothing," the honey blonde replied with a chuckle.
"Huh, what do you know, I guess I did get carried away," he replied, his eyes never leaving the dishes.
Serena took a few steps closer to him and wrapped her arms around his waist. Being a few inches shorter than Ash, she rested her head on the back of his neck.
"It's okay Ash, everyone will do fine, we're all going to make it."
"I really hope so…" He replied with a sigh.
"Remember what you told me, 'don't give up until the very end.'"
"…Did I say that?"
"You mean you don't remember?" She said this with a slight attitude arising.
"No not really," he replied nervously. "I just… I… have a lot of memories with you guys, it's kinda hard to remember them all."
Because of her position, she could tell that he wasn't confident with the answer, leading her to believe he was lying. She just sighed and let it slide.
"Well that doesn't matter now. What does matter is that we all go out there and give it everything we got. We'll make it, no doubt."
Ash felt the confidence in her voice, it made him feel at ease.
"I guess her confidence really turns me on," he thought. "Why did I just think that? I'm supposed to be faithful to Leaf."
Ash then felt Serena's lips press against his neck, sending a warm sensation throughout his body.
"Well… We never really made it official…"
He put the dish he was currently working on back into the sink and turned around to face Serena.
She had a look of longing, but it was also mixed with fear. Ash didn't know why either look was present on her face but he was planning on finding out.
"What's wrong Serena?" Ash asked with concern.
"It's… nothing, really. I'm just a little nervous about the test too, that's all." Although, the test wasn't bothering her at all; the thought of confessing her feelings to Ash was.
However, Ash bought her excuse. He put his hands on her hips and looked her in the eyes, causing her to blush and look away.
"So you're gonna give me that whole pep talk and not feel any better about it?" he asked with a slight laugh.
"Shut up, Ash," she replied laughing.
She looked back at him and put her arms around his neck, pulling his face close to her's.
Next thing Ash knew, his lips were locked with Serena's.
"Is this what it's like to be… What did Gary call it? A fuckboy? Am I being a fuckboy?"
He quickly pushed the thoughts away to focus on the intimate moment he was having with Serena.
He pulled her slender waist closer to him to feel her whole body pressed against his and deepen the kiss.
He slowly pushed his tongue into her mouth, which she willingly accepted, causing her to moan lightly.
Serena then pushed herself away, putting some distance between the two.
"No freebies young man," she closed the distance between them again. "If we pass, there's more where that came from."
She finished her sentence by giving Ash a quick peck on the lips before going upstairs.
Ash just shrugged it off and went back to doing the dishes. His mind was definitely more calm now, quickly finishing what he had left to do.
Red wasn't there to dry the dishes and Serena hadn't replaced him to put them away, so he just left them in the rack to air dry.
He went upstairs to find that Gary and Pikachu were playing games again, Leaf and Serena having girl talk on the bottom bunk (which kinda scared him), and Red sleeping on the top bunk.
The girls met him with a smile, which slightly put him at ease.
He didn't want to get caught messing around with both of them, he didn't know how they'd react or what it would do to the group.
His biggest fear, however, was Red.
The thought sent shivers down his spine, so he quickly brushed the thought off and joined Gary and Pikachu on the floor.
"Anyone gonna shower?" Leaf asked.
"Nah, it doesn't make sense to get dirty, clean up, and get dirty, then clean up again," Gary said.
"Well I have to shower, I don't particularly enjoy being dirty," Serena said.
She then got up, grabbed her bag, and went to the bathroom.
"Women," Gary whispered only so Ash and Pikachu could hear it.
This earned a laugh from the two and an eye roll from Leaf.
Everyone else slowly started getting ready, not having to dress in their regular uniform. They opted to leave a little early to calm their nerves at the school.
The walk to school was much more lively this time as Gary was trying to lighten the mood with conversation.
Everyone got involved, aside from Red who doesn't normally talk, so that they felt at ease.
"Hey Ashy boy, race you to the door!" Gary yelled as he took off.
"Get back here Gary!" he yelled back.
Pikachu jumped off Ash's shoulder on to Red's, who reached up to scratch the electric mouse.
"I guess we should go after them," Leaf said.
"I'm not trying to get sweaty just yet," Serena replied.
Red just shrugged his shoulders.
"I guess we'll just walk then," Leaf said.
The walk for the three was silent. The most noise would be from Pikachu jumping from shoulder to shoulder, trying to get some affection from the humans.
As they walked to the back, they saw Ash and Gary both laying on the ground next to each other, panting.
"Had a good run idiots?" Serena asked with a laugh.
"It… was okay..." Gary managed to get out.
Ash raised a weak arm and said, "I won."
"Fuck… you…" Gary responded.
Ash then dropped his arm on Gary's chest causing him to start coughing uncontrollably.
Everyone else laughed at the exchange.
The other three decided to sit close to the wheezing boys and just talk until the time came for them to start day 1 of their final.
After a few minutes, Professor Oak and Korrina walk out the back door of the school and see the group relaxing.
"Well you all are here early, I wasn't expecting it," Oak said to them.
"Yeah, we couldn't wait so we came early," Gary said as he sat up.
"Then let's not waste time, who's up first?" Oak asked.
Ash, still laying on the ground, raised his hand again. "I'll go first."
"Splendid! Who will be his oppo-."
"I WILL BE HIS OPPONENT!" Gary yelled as he stood up.
The sudden outburst irritated Oak a little bit, but he just brushed it off.
"Okay, then the first battle will be Ash versus Gary. Get to your sides of the field," Oak said.
The other cleared the field and the two competitors took opposite ends of the field.
Pikachu decided a nap would have been perfect, so he ran up a tree and laid down on branch.
"Alright you two, you should know the rules, but I'll repeat them just in case you forgot," Oak said. "Rule number one! This will be a clean fight, no hitting below the belt or things of that nature."
The duo nodded.
"Rule number two! Blood does not equal match end. Your opponent may bleed but it won't be over until Korrina says it's over."
The duo nodded again.
"Rule number three! No running from your battles. If you leave the ring, you are disqualified and automatically fail."
The duo nodded for the final time.
Korrina walked to the middle of the field.
"Fighters, to me," she said.
They walked to her and met her in the middle of the field.
"Alright, you know the rules, any infraction and I take you down myself, understood? Okay, now shake hands," she said without allowing time for a response.
Ash and Gary shook hands, both with competitive smiles on their faces.
"Fight!"
This caught the pair off guard. They hadn't let each other go just yet, but Korrina yelled match start.
Gary was the first to react, slamming a quick punch on to Ash's face, sending him to the ground.
"While I'm not one for cheap shots, I'll take that freebie," Gary said cockily.
Ash just spit on the ground to check for blood. After he saw none, he got back up into a defensive stance.
"What? Nothing to say? I guess we should just fight then."
Ash then rushed his opponent, sending a right hook as soon as he could. Gary ducked swiftly before sending an uppercut into Ash's stomach.
Gary jumped back, creating some space between the two.
"Woo! That was a nice try Ash, but you gotta do better than that."
Ash slowly walked up Gary with his hands up. He started sending some quick jabs to test the waters before starting a barrage of punches to Gary's upper body.
Gary tried to dodge and block as much as he could, but he couldn't hold everything off, taking some damage.
He quickly pushed Ash back, who nearly lost his balance. Gary saw this and went in for a low sweep and knocked Ash on to his back.
Ash was dazed, unsure of Gary's exact position. Gary then sat on Ash's chest ready to send some punches to Ash's face.
"Night night, Ashy boy," Gary said.
Just as he was about to send a punch, Korrina grabbed his arm.
"That's enough. The victor is Gary Oak!"
Gary removed himself from Ash's chest and helped him up.
"It was a good battle bro, but you let me get to you, you shouldn't have done that," Gary said sympathetically.
Ash sighed. "Yeah I did, I don't know what happened."
"Hey, don't worry about it just yet, you have 3 other Guinea pigs to before the grandmaster herself decides to demolish us," Gary said.
"Yeah, you're right," Ash said with a chuckle.
The pair walked to the sidelines to meet the others.
"Damn Ash, you got messed up pretty quick," Leaf said.
"Yeah, yeah," Ash replied. "I'm gonna kick your ass next."
"Oh? Is that a threat?" Leaf said.
"You and me, right now," Ash said as he put his hands up in a defensive position.
"Nah, I don't want 3 punches to end the battle," Leaf said.
"Damn dude, she's really underestimating you," Gary said.
Ash slumped over, feeling his pride take a hit.
"First I get physically beaten, now I'm getting emotionally tortured," Ash said dejectedly.
"Don't worry about it Ashy boy, just show her who's boss," Gary said.
"I SAID NEXT CHALLENGER!"
Oak was fuming. He had been calling for the next challenger for the past few minutes, but no one seemed to hear him.
Serena and Red looked at each other and nodded. Without a word, the two walked to opposite sides of the field.
"Fighters, to me," Korrina said from the middle of the field.
The two friends walked to the middle of the field.
"You know the rules. Shake hands," Korrina said.
They expected Korrina to pull another fast one, but it never came.
"Step back you two," she said.
They back pedaled a few steps and looked at Korrina.
"Begin!"
Red put his arms up in a defensive stance as Serena rushed him. She kicked his inner knee, causing his stance to drop for a split second.
Serena didn't take advantage of it, allowing him to recover. He stepped closer and hardened his defenses, not allowing himself to falter a second time.
"Okay, I know how Red fights, he's going to try something slick right about…"
Immediately, Red lunged at her with powerful punch with his right hand. However, he had missed.
Serena predicted the attack and turned her body to dodge before sending a devastating uppercut with her left hand into his rib cage.
Red dropped both of his arms due to the pain. Serena tried to follow up with right hook, but Red saw it coming and quickly ducked.
Serena predicted that too, sending her left knee upward into his jaw.
Red fell to the ground, pain surging through his body.
"She's not gonna wear out any time soon, I gotta act fast before I get knocked out," Red thought.
Serena showed mercy, allowing Red to get up and brush himself off.
"Okay I'm doing good, let's not get cocky though," she said to herself.
Red put his hands up, finally recovering from the devastating blows he had received.
Serena smirked, imitating his stance.
Red stepped forward and sent a straight punch to her face. She quickly leaned to one side and saw Red smile.
Next thing she knew, she saw the sky.
Red had allowed his punch to miss so she'd lean, giving him the opportunity to sweep her off her feet.
He stood over her body and raised his leg, ready to drop his heel into her chest.
Serena's eyes widened and she rolled to the side as he dropped his foot into the dirt. She quickly got back up and into a defensive stance.
Red rushed her and jumped, attempting to kick her in the process.
Serena easily caught it though and jabbed her elbow into his thigh before tossing it aside.
Red tried to get up, pain searing through his leg.
"I got him limping, now's my chance!" she thought.
Serena ran up to him and raised her arm to hammer his skull into the ground.
Red quickly raised his arms to form an X to block her arm. She foresaw the block and sent her knee into his ribs again.
He was sent to the ground once more. This time he didn't get up.
"Red is unable to battle, Serena is the winner!" Korrina said.
Serena walked up to Red and held a hand out to help him up. He looked up to the owner of the hand and saw a soft smile on her face. He returned the smile and allowed her to help her up.
He put his arm around her and leaned on her for support. They slowly walked to the sidelines where the others sat.
"Sorry if I was too rough," Serena said meekly.
"It's fine," he said with a smile.
"You sure? I think I did go a little overboard," she said, her smile dropping a bit.
"No, it's all a part of battle," he said with his smile shining through.
"Wow, this is the most I've gotten him to talk," Serena thought to herself.
As they reached the others, Leaf and Gary helped Red sit next to Ash who wasn't is the best shape either.
"Looks like we both got messed up pretty bad, huh Red," Ash said.
Red laughed a bit and nodded his head.
"Okay, well since I'm still in pretty good shape, no offense Red, I think I can go again," Serena said.
"Sure you don't wanna sit for a bit?" Ash asked.
"No, I'm fired up and I don't wanna lose my momentum," Serena said full of confidence.
"Well I guess I coul-."
"I'LL FIGHT YOU!" Gary yelled.
Leaf wanted to fight Serena first to get it out of the way, but Gary's overpowering voice blocked all traces of sound from Leaf's mouth.
"Okay let's go!" Serena said.
The two stood on opposite sides of the field.
Leaf sunk to floor, feeling an overwhelming sense of pressure. She clenched her eyes tightly and hugged her knees.
"I don't wanna go last! I feel like I'm gonna fail now!" She was mentally beating herself.
Tears slowly formed in her eyes before she felt a soft nudge on her side.
When she looked, she was Red, concern written all over her face. He weakly raised his hand and wiped her tears from her face.
"Come here sis," he said softly.
His voice sent her over the edge. She jumped into his arms and started sobbing.
"I don't wanna fail Red! I want to stay with you guys, and go on fun adventures, and graduate!"
Red just hummed a song into her ears and rubbed her back until the girl stopped crying.
Ash watched the whole thing go down. Truthfully, he was about to fall asleep when he heard Leaf start crying. He looked over and saw the brunette clinging on to Red like he was dying.
"She really doesn't have confidence in herself huh…" Ash thought. "I'll help her with that."
Ash stared at the pair until Leaf stopped crying and got herself together. More thoughts started forming but couldn't be completed as Korrina's words shot through his head.
"Serena is the victor!"
He turned to the battlefield and saw Gary fully unconscious with a goofy smile on his face.
Serena appeared extremely upset, not even helping the unconscious boy up. She stormed over to the sidelines and sat in between Ash and Red.
"What happened to you Fiesty Pants?" Ash said with a chuckle.
"Oh so you weren't even watching?! What is wrong with you people!" Serena turned around and had her back to Ash.
"… Was it something I said?" Ash asked.
His question went completely unanswered as she didn't even acknowledge him.
"*sigh* Well, I've been on my ass for too long, time to get back in," he said.
He picked himself up and walked to the field. Gary was still unconscious, so he grabbed him by the shirt collar and dragged him to the sidelines.
After depositing his best friend, he turned to Leaf, who was still in Red's arms.
"Leaf, wanna take me on next?" Ash asked.
The question caught her off guard, not expecting anyone to notice her.
"I don't know Ash… I don't feel ready," she replied.
"Come on Leaf, that wasn't what you were saying this morning."
He extended his hand to her. She grabbed it and allowed her to be pulled up.
Ash held her by the shoulders and looked into her eyes.
"You're gonna do great Leaf, I know it," he said.
He then pulled her into a gentle embrace.
"If you win, I'll fuck you into next week," he whispered.
This sent a blush straight to her cheeks. Luckily, her back was to everyone else so now one saw her reaction.
Ash pulled himself out, winked, and walked to his side of the field.
"He really knows what to say at the right time," she thought.
She followed him on to the field and met in the middle by Korrina.
"You know the drill. FIGHT!"
Both were, once again, caught off guard by the sudden match start and jumped away from each other.
Leaf rushed in and tried to catch him in the face with a roundhouse kick.
Ash, still a little weak from his first battle, blocked it but was thrown to the side by the sheer force.
"Damn Leaf, I didn't know you were that strong," Ash said as he got to one knee.
Leaf didn't respond but got into another aggressive stance instead.
Ash took off running at her and full on football tackled her to the ground. He clung on to her stomach, letting go only to send punches to her ribs.
Leaf took her elbow and jabbed it into his back multiple times until his grip weakened and she was able to force her way out.
She scrambled to her feet and saw that Ash had now gotten on to all fours. She slowly approached him and kicked him in his stomach. This left Ash flat on his back.
Leaf was about to do more damage but Korrina put her arm in front of her.
"I've seen enough, victory goes to Leaf."
Leaf let out a deep sigh of relief. She was interrupted by a cough from the raven-haired boy on the ground.
He looked up at her, smiled, and put up a weak thumbs up.
"I told you you could do it," he said before passing out.
She laughed a bit before picking him up and resting him next to Gary, who was still unconscious.
"They look peaceful now. We don't have to worry about them doing anything dumb now," she thought to herself.
"You should've put him on Gary so they'd be a pile of stupid," Serena said aggressively.
"What's got you so heated?" Leaf said with a light laugh.
"Gary motorboated me and thought it was funny."
"Oh…" Leaf said, understanding her plight. "Good thing they're unconscious."
"Fucking pervert," she said. "Come on, we have a fight to start."
She didn't even wait for a response, immediately walking to Korrina.
"Uhh… Okay…" Leaf said hesitantly.
Gary slowly woke up. His vision still hazy from the flurry of pain he received from Serena, but there was no doubt someone was lying next to him.
He squinted his eyes to try to focus them, but still couldn't make out who it was. When that failed, he moved closer to them.
The other figure then shifted slightly and opened their eyes.
Gary's eyes finally became clear, but he wished they hadn't. It was Ash next to him.
Both of them were laying next to each other with their faces a few centimeters apart and staring into each other's eyes.
They both quickly rolled over in embarrassment.
"That never happened, agreed?" Gary said.
"Agreed," Ash responded.
Red watched the entire scene from start to finish and started laughing uncontrollably.
"That's between us right Red?" Gary said with a little aggression in his voice.
Red couldn't even respond, he was still laughing.
"You're gonna regret laughing at me Red."
"The victor is Leaf!" Korrina yelled.
"Perfect," Gary thought to himself. "Come on Red, you and me, right now."
Red slowly broke out of his laughing fit and stood up. While waiting for the girls to reach them, he stretched his muscles out, trying to get them back to full functionality.
"That was a really good fight Serena," Leaf said.
"It was very relaxing, honestly," she replied. "I'm not even mad I lost, I was surprised when you caught me in that arm bar."
"They were wrestling?!" Gary thought. "And I wasn't watching?! Red is really going to get it now!"
The two new competitors were both on their sides of the field. As Korrina signaled the start of the match, Gary unleashed a fierce battle cry and rushed Red.
The match didn't last very long.
Red simply side stepped and tripped Gary before putting him into a chokehold, forcing him to tap out.
Because there were minimal injuries, excluding Gary's pride, they just walked to the sidelines in silence.
Gary plopped himself on the ground and began sulking.
"I can't be doing too good in the ratings, I have to make it up with my last few battles. I already battled Ash, Serena, and Red so that leaves… Leaf…" Gary thought. "I'll have to fight her smart if I want to have any chance of winning."
"Come on lil bro, you and me next," Leaf said.
Red just huffed and walked to the field.
"You're older?" Serena asked.
"Yeah, by a few seconds. Everyone thinks he's older though," Leaf said.
"Yeah I think we all thought that way," Ash said.
"Losers…" Leaf mumbled under her breath.
She then walked to her side of the field and met Red in the middle.
"Fight!" Korrina yelled.
The two assumed aggressive positions, but made no move.
"Don't go easy on me now, I don't want to embarrass you," Lead said.
Red growled and sent a speedy roundhouse to her face.
Leaf ducked and moved in to kick the inside of his knee, causing him to fall.
"Well doesn't this seem familiar…" he thought.
He got back up and closed the distance between them.
Leaf put up a defensive front, expecting him to put some pressure on her.
Just as she expected, he sent a fist flying her way. She put her arms up to block it, but it never came.
Immediately, she felt a sharp pain in her gut, causing her to keel over.
Red faked the initial punch which left Leaf's stomach wide open.
Leaf put her hands to her stomach, which she instantly regret. Red sent her a nasty right hook which sent her to her back.
Red sat on her chest, not allowing her to get up. He raised his fist to punch her, but he couldn't bring himself to do it.
"Come on Red, finish me. Do it," Leaf said weakly.
He tried again, but couldn't. The sister he spent 14 years protecting was now being beaten by himself.
He lowered his fist and closed his eyes.
"Weak."
That was all he heard. His eyes snapped open to see Leaf slap both of his ears, causing him to go dizzy and his ears to ring.
Leaf took advantage of him being dazed and pushed him off before assuming another defensive position.
Red slowly recovered, regaining his balance, and standing back up. He tried to shake whatever dizziness was left, but couldn't manage to shake it all off.
Leaf just walked up to him, grabbed him by his neck, and sent him a head butt, causing him to pass out.
"The victor is Leaf!" Korrina yelled.
Leaf tried to pick Red up, but he was much too heavy for her to do it alone. Luckily, Serena was already on the scene and helping her drag her unconscious brother to the sidelines.
"Damn Leaf, that was brutal," Ash said.
"Yeah, I didn't think you had it in you," Serena said.
"Red has always had a soft spot for me, so I had to make sure that isn't his weakness," Leaf explained. "I need him to know I could handle myself, so I had to go extra hard on him."
The other two nodded in understanding.
"Think you can handle him Leaf?" Ash asked.
"Yeah, I think I can watch a sleeping person," Leaf said with a chuckle.
"Ha ha, I was just making sure if you were alright," he replied. "Serena, ready for our fight?"
"You bet, let's go," Serena replied.
Meanwhile
Red found himself in a black room. It seemed boundless in all directions, no type of landmarks anywhere.
"Where am I?" he said aloud.
He saw a figure approaching him. He couldn't make out who the person was until they were a few feet away.
When he recognized who it was, his eyes widened.
"Fa-father?" Red said.
"Yes son, it's me. It's been awhile hasn't it?" Red's father had his arms open, ready to embrace his son.
Red ran to him, immediately hugging the man as tightly as he could.
"Father, I've missed you." Red was fighting tears at this point. "It's been 8 years. I've missed you. Leaf misses you."
"I know son. I've missed you both dearly. Have you been fulfilling my last request?"
Red still remembered that fateful day like it was yesterday.
Flashback
Red and Leaf, at the age of 6, were running around the house.
Their father came down the stairs, dressed in camouflage, a suit made of grass over his shoulder. He was carrying a very long, hard-shell case, making sure not to bump any of the furniture on the way out.
"Hey kids, daddy's got to go now, I don't know how long I'll be gone so please behave for your mother," he said.
"Yes poppa," the pair said.
"Where are you going poppa?" Red said as he approached the man.
His father put the case down and knelt by his son.
"I'll tell you when you're older okay? You're the man of the house now, take care of your mother and Leaf."
"Yes poppa!"
With that, their father kissed both of his children on the forehead, picked the case up, and left.
About a month later, two men in uniforms knocked on the door.
Red and Leaf both peeked around a corner and watched their mother open the door.
"Oh no…" their mother said. She instantly knew what the news was and began to break down.
The men sent their condolences and went on their way.
Their mother had not moved from the front of the door, still sobbing her eyes out.
The two children approached their mother, unsure of what's going on.
"He's gone… Daddy's not coming home…" their mother managed.
She held her children in a tight embrace, continuing to sob uncontrollably. Leaf joined her in uncontrollable sobbing, while Red stayed silent, only letting silent tears drop from his eyes.
Flashback End.
"Yes father, I'm taking good care of them. Both of them are healthy and happy," Red said to the figure.
"Very good."
"Where did you go? Why did you leave us?"
His father sighed. "I know I promised to tell you when you're older, but I'm afraid I can't."
Red realized that his mind was just playing tricks on him. He shut his eyes, trying to savor the last few moments he had with the figment of his imagination that was his father.
When he opened his eyes, his father was gone.
Red shot up out of his sleep. The first thing he saw was Serena in Ash's chokehold.
"Oh you're awake," he heard.
He looked to his side and saw Leaf next to him with a soft smile.
He hugged her tightly, not letting her go.
"Alright big fella, I know you got your ass beat, but you don't have to get all soft of me," she choked out. "Okay Red, too tight!"
Red let go, a shy smile on his face.
"Don't worry about it, I'm used to it already," she said.
The pair that just fought finally made their way to the sidelines.
"Damn Ash, you don't have to choke me so hard next time," Serena said.
"Yeah well you didn't have to elbow me in my jaw so aggressively either," he replied while rubbing his jaw.
Ash looked around for his spiky haired friend and saw him sulking in his little corner still. He decided to leave Gary alone since he thought he was asleep.
"Red, you and me next?" Ash said.
Red nodded and stood up to stretch a bit. He signaled Ash that he was ready and they both made their way to the field.
Korrina started her pre-match rituals and then started the round.
"I'll show you how strong I've gotten father," Red thought.
Red put his hands up defensively as Ash approached him. Ash started sending quick jabs. They suddenly had more power behind them and came at an increased volume.
Red was skillfully dodge and blocking, negating all damage coming his way.
Ash soon became winded, having fought 3 times for the day was extremely tiring.
Red saw this and made his move. He punched Ash straight in the gut then sent him a left hook, similarly to what he did to Leaf in his previous fight.
He didn't stop there, however. Ash hadn't fallen, he just stumbled at bit before recovering.
Red approached him and sent him a roundhouse kick, connecting with Ash's jaw. This time he was sent to the floor.
Ash spit on the ground and saw blood. He attempted to get up, but couldn't, he didn't have the strength.
Red looked at Korrina, expecting her to call it.
"Finish him," she said.
He looked down at his long time friend and saw indescribable amounts of pain. He couldn't do it.
"I forfeit," Red said.
He didn't even wait for Korrina to call who won, he just slung Ash over his shoulder and brought him to the sidelines. He set him down next to the girls.
"Is he okay?" Serena said.
"Yeah… I'm fine…" Ash struggled to get those words out.
"I apologize Ash," Red said sincerely.
"You're fine Red, I'm glad you gave it everything you got." Ash tried to raise his arm, but felt too weak to do so.
"I'll take you to the infirmary," Red said.
Ash nodded with a smile on his face. Red leaned down and put his arm around Ash's torso while Ash had his arm around Red's shoulder.
"Let Gary know I wish him good luck. You too Leaf," Ash said.
"Thanks Ash, please get well," Leaf said.
"Don't worry about me, just focus on your test."
"Okay, I will."
Ash and Red then limped away to get help.
Leaf got up shortly and walked over to Gary. She lightly kicked him to get his attention.
"Come on Gary, let's go," Leaf said.
Gary silently got up and followed her to the battlefield.
"It all ends here, I have to play it smart," Gary thought. "I don't even win, I just need to show Gramps I can fight smart."
They met Korrina in the middle and waited for the match to start.
"Begin!"
They both took aggressive stances and began circling each other.
Leaf noticed that Gary wasn't smiling like he normally did, he had a really serious look instead.
"What happened Gary? Gave up on smack talking?" Leaf said.
Gary smiled. "Maybe I just wanna get a real good look at the girl in front of me."
This brought a blush to her face. She rushed and immediately tried to kick his leg to disable him, but Gary grabbed it and threw it to the side.
This threw her off balance and made her unaware of Gary's position.
He sent a side kick that hit Leaf directly in her stomach, causing her to fall to her knees in pain.
She slowly got up, despite the nauseous feeling, and took another aggressive stance.
"Come at me," she said tauntingly.
He kicked her in the back of her knees, sending her to the ground once more. He quickly send a punch across her cheek.
"That's enough, Gary is the winner."
He extended a hand down to Leaf and helped her up.
"I didn't know you had it in you to hit a girl," she said.
"If it means that I won't be in the group anymore, I'll beat anyone up," Gary responded.
They walked back to the sidelines and sat down.
"That was a pretty one-sided fight," Serena said.
"Yeah, Gary got the best of me. I couldn't even land a single hit," Leaf said.
"You did fine Leaf, don't worry about it too much," Gary said.
"Who said I was worried?" Leaf said with her arms crossed.
Gary just huffed and smiled.
Soon after, Red and Ash returned, Ash no longer needing support from the other boy.
"Ash you're back," Serena said.
"Yeah, they just gave me some painkillers, bandaged me up, and kicked me out," he said.
"Well at least you look okay," Leaf said.
"Yeah I feel fine," Ash said.
Oak and Korrina both walked up to the group.
The group turned and sat to meet the adults that were there.
"Well I must commend you all on your fighting skills, you all have improved greatly over the course of the year," Oak said.
"I have to agree, I remember when Leaf and Serena couldn't even throw a solid punch," Korrina said.
"Okay, okay we get it, what are results?" Gary said.
"Well you all passed the first part of the test," Oak said.
Everyone started cheering and high fives were had all around.
"Let's not get too happy now, you still have 2 more parts to complete," Korrina said.
"Speaking of, I decided to change the second part," Oak said. "After today, I decided it was too long and and will be too tiring for the Pokemon."
"How will you change it?" Ash said.
"You will all have to battle all at one time," Oak said.
"That's insanity, how will we keep track?" Serena asked.
"That's for you to find out, maybe you'll have to team up, who knows," Oak said.
The group looked at each other with worried expression.
"Well that's all for today, have a wonderful day!" Oak said.
With that, Oak and Korrina returned to the school.
"This is about to be a clusterfuck, I can feel it," Gary said to break the silence.
"Yeah, I've never even heard of a 5-way battle before," Ash replied.
Everyone else agreed with the boys. Several minutes of talking later, they went to their separate homes; Gary and Serena to Oak's ranch/lab/home, Leaf and Red to their family home, and Ash to his.
The walk gave Ash a chance to think about the day. He recalled the events from his home this morning, what happened between him and Leaf and Serena, and the fights that took place.
He felt that everyone had a strange ulterior motive that caused everyone to act differently in the fight.
His thoughts were interrupted when he finally reached his front door. He unlocked the door and walked inside to see his mother cooking.
"Hey there Ash, how was the first part of your test today?" Delia asked.
"It was pretty interesting, can't really complain though," he replied.
His thoughts drifted off when he saw Braixen walk in and smile at him.
"Hmm... Serena left Braixen here. But wait... Where's Pikachu?"
Ash recalled the day's events and remembered seeing Pikachu asleep in a tree.
"PIKACHU!" Ash thought.
"I'll be back mom!" Ash cried.
As he opened the door, he saw a fairly disappointed Pikachu standing on the other side.
"Oh hey there buddy, how you doing?" Ash asked nervously.
"Pika pi," Pikachu responded, walking past Ash into the open door.
Delia greeted Pikachu and proceeded to feed him.
"I'm gonna go shower mom," Ash said.
He went upstairs and showered. He looked in the mirror and saw multiple bruises all over his body.
"Damn I got fucked up," Ash said to himself.
He went back to his room and clothed himself. Soon after, his mom called him downstairs to eat.
After his healthy meal, he laid down on the couch and started watching TV with Pikachu and Braixen. Soon after, they all fell asleep.
Ash was woken up by the sound of knocking on his door. He knew his friends were going to break in, but they never knocked.
Braixen was also awoken by the knocking and accompanied Ash as he walked to the door. She pulled the stick out of her tail, ready to launch an attack if need be.
Ash looked at her and nodded. He quickly opened the door and Braixen pointed the stick at the open door, ready to spray fire.
Ash and Braixen saw it was Leaf on the other side of the door and let out a sigh of relief. Braixen went back to the living room to lay back down, leaving the pair alone.
"Hey Ash," Leaf said.
"Hey, where's everyone else?" he asked.
"It's just me."
"Oh… Well come inside, I'm sure it's cold out there," he said as he stepped out of the way.
"Thanks," she said as she walked in.
She brought all the typical stuff she usually brought when the group broke in, so Ash figured that she wanted to come early.
"So what brings you to these parts at this time?" Ash said with a smile.
He subconsciously led her up the stairs, being the place she usually left her stuff.
"I just wanted to have some alone time with you," she said.
They walked into Ash's room and Leaf put down her stuff. Ash sat on his bed, having not a clue of what Leaf's intentions were.
"Well you have me, what do you want to do?" Ash said.
Leaf sat on his lap facing him. She put her arms around his neck and pulled him in.
"I wanna fuck," she said seductively.
The words hit Ash like a brick; he had completely forgot about the promise he made to her earlier.
"Besides, you promised we would if I won," she said matter-of-factly.
She pulled Ash into a deep kiss, forcing him on to his back. She was now on top of the boy, taking control of the events to come.
"You ready Ash?" Leaf whispered.
"Bring it," he whispered back.
(A/N: Hey there, so this chapter was pretty long. I was originally gonna split it into two but I couldn't find a spot to break it that wouldn't leave one too short.
In other news, this was my first time writing battles and fight scenes, so please let me know how I did. There were a lot too, so that didn't help my situation. I also thought about making lemon at the end, but I decided to leave it up your imagination. If I get a few requests to write lemons, then I'll add them, but for now, it's up to you guys.
Now on to the story. We see how both females are trying to pursue Ash. Just know, only one gets Ash in the end, I've already planned out who. Maybe it's one of the two, maybe it's someone I introduce later, who knows. We see a lot of each characters' flaws and weaknesses, why they do what they do, and how they choose to take it on, even the reason behind Red's silence. Everything plays a role sooner or later, don't worry about that.
As for my updates, I'll still push them as often as I write them. The first 3 chapters came out fairly quickly because I already had them written and edited, they just needed to be uploaded. I just finished this chapter so as soon as this goes up, Chapter 5 is going down.
Until next time, please review, follow, favorite, PM me, all the things. See ya!