Ash sat on the edge of the bed, head in his hands. He thought about the last week. How he brushed aside Damien. How he had to work harder to beat Ilene, the woman he fought in the second round. Then Ash was in the last sixteen. He remembered the joy he felt when he saw that he hadn't been drawn against an elite four member. He was drawn against Bella, a girl from Unova in her mid twenties. She had a similar style of battling to Ash. Their battle went down to the wire, Ash's Greninja finally managed to knock out Bella's Escavalier with a powerful hydro pump. The second round draw was not as nice to Ash however. He was paired with elite four member Wikstrom. When the draw had been made Red found Ash to re-assure Ash that it wasn't the end of the world. However Ash knew that Wikstom and the rest of the elite four were regarded as the best trainers in the region for a reason. He went into the battle thinking as positively as he could. Ash had the type advantage however with a fire and a fighting type against Wikstrom's all steel team. Ash managed to defeat Wikstrom's four pokemon with three of his own. Wikstrom wasn't the only elite four member not to reach the semi-finals, Malva was defeated in the last sixteen to a man about fifty. It was this man who Ash was drawn against. This of course meant the the other semi final was an all elite four affair. This battle took place first. Ash watched with Red and Clemont in the Arena. Red took detailed notes about each of the pokemon, assessing what traits each trainer liked to focus on. In the end Drasna's Noivern managed to win the battle for her. At the end of the match Siebold created controversy, when he refused to accept defeat by storming out of the Arena without shaking hands with his opponent. It was not disclosed, although everyone was gossiping that Diantha went to Siebold and made him apologize threatening him with being kicked out of the elite four if he didn't. Ash spent the night before the semi final thinking about what he had already achieved, what he had done by simply getting to the semi finals. However while he was thinking out loud Serena overheard him, she looked at him and said.

"You can't think like that, you can't go into a match thinking that 'it's great to be here'. You have to go into the match tomorrow thinking I can win this, and I will. If you think it doesn't matter if I lose then you won't try as hard, then you probably will lose."

Ash had started to protest but had failed. He knew that she was right, he had to think positive. So when he walked out onto the battlefield he tried to focus on the battle as he always did. However twice he got caught up in the spectacle of where he was and what he was doing. His opponent, Niles, punished him for it. The first was after Niles' first pokemon, Flygon had knocked out Ash's Hawlucha and so Ash was using Greninja. Ash got caught looking at the crowd and thinking about all the people that were watching him. Niles' Flygon managed to land a full force dragonbreath. Ash regained his composure and managed to pull the match back level. Ash soon lost his concentration again, Ash had almost won the match. Greninja had almost defeated Niles' second Pokemon, Solrock when Ash's trail of thought was soon deflected to how he would fight against Drasna. Solrock buried Greninja under rubble. Ash had to react quickly and then Greninja managed to use hydro pump to escape. Greninja then used dark pulse to win Ash the match. Ash was happy at the victory however he knew how close he had come to losing it all because he simply couldn't maintain focus.

Yesterday, on break between the semi finals and the final, Ash had told Red about his problem. He thought that Red would go through the roof. However he just nodded and told him that "Ash, when you're in the arena, you can't think about things like the crowd, or what happens after the battle. You need to think about how you are going to use your pokemon to beat your opponent's."

Ash had now run throught the last week and a half. Inside his mind he fantasised about would would happen in the next few hours. While he was thinking about what would happen Serena walked in. She had left to give Ash peace and quiet to think. She walked over to Ash and kissed him on the forehead. When Ash saw the way she was looking at him he asked her. "What?"

"I'm so proud of you." She simply replied.

Ash blushed a little, he wondered how she would feel if he entered the hall of fame. There was a knock at the door. Red walked in slowly and spoke to Ash. "It's time to go." The three of them walked to the Arena, Ash tried to remain calm yet at the same time tried to focus on the task before him. He walked into the entrance and was greeted by a woman in her twenties. "Good afternoon Ash, are you ready to go to the waiting room?"

"One minute." She nodded. Ash turned to Serena and kissed her. The warmth of her lips comforted him and for a second allowed him to think about something other than the league. The kiss ended. "I love you." He told her.

"I love you too."

Red then turned to Ash. "Good luck."

Ash nodded then turned to the woman and said. "I'm ready."

She led Ash down a corridor and used a badge round her neck to unlock a door into a small room. She checked her watch then said "Someone will get you in about ten minutes."

"Thank you." The woman left Ash and as she closed the door the sounds of the stadium faded out and Ash was left in silence. He thought about what stratergy he would use he tried to remember the notes that Red had made about Drasna in the semi final. Red emphasised how Drasna's pokemon could take a lot of damage and deal a lot as well, but apart from Noivurn were slow. He also tried to think of the things that Iris had gone on about to do with dragon pokemon in Unova. Their strengths and their weaknesses. However his mind couldn't focus. He then just sat there trying to calm himself so he would begin this match with a level head. At first his simply tried to empty his mind, however his thoughts kept returning to the match. So instead he thought of the most comforting thing he could, he pictured himself lying on his bed in his mom's house in Pallet town. Serena was lying in his arms, the two of them were talking about nothing in particular. Ash found this comforting, he could feel his pulse calm down and his breathing rate slow. Ash decided that from now on this would be what he would think of when he was stressed.

Before Ash knew it there was a knock on the door and the woman who had greeted him walked in and told him. "It's time." Ash nodded and followed her as she walked to the other side of the room and unlock the door on that side. There was a small corridor that opened out onto the battlefield. The woman stopped but gestured for Ash to carry on. As he walked past her he heard her wish him. "Good luck." However Ash didn't respond, he knew that he had to keep walking as if he stopped the nerves might not allow him to start again. He was blinded by the sunlight the moment he stepped out. When he did the Arena errupted in a roar. Once as Ash's eyes had adjusted he saw Drasna standing at the other end of the battlefield looking as calm as ever. Ash wondered if she was as calm as she looked or if she, like him, had sweaty palms about this match. Ash took comfort in the idea of her being nervous. Once Ash was inside his trainer's box the Arena announcer bellowed. "Ladies and gentlemen, please give a warm welcome the referee for this years final, your Kalos League champion, Diantha!" The sound was deafening, the entire stadium was alive with cheers and howling.

As Diantha walked out onto the side of the battlefield she spoke to the crowd over a speaker.

"Thank you, for the welcome. However I am not the reason we are all here today. We are here to determine which of these two trainers will be crowned this years Kalos victor and will get the chance to face me and prove themselves a worthy entrant to the Kalos Hall of Fame. Are you excited?" Once again the stadium became a bowl of solid noise as the crowd showed their love for Diantha and the competition she ran. "Me too. Drasna are you ready?" Drasna gave a subtle yet noticable nod to Diantha. "Ash are you ready?" Ash managed to give a thumbs up with his left hand while keeping his right on his first pokeball he would use. "Well then without furthe ado, let the final begin!"

Ash started out with Hawlucha against Drasna's Dragalge, Ash managed to win with Hawlucha's powerful, super effective dig. This lead didn't last long however with Hawlucha quickly being put in its place by a menacing sky attack from Drasna's second pokemon Altaria. Pikachu had a type advantage and Ash used it effectivly, however when Drasna saw this she decided to use the no-substitution rule that came into effect in the semi-finals to doom Pikachu. Altaria used perish song just before Pikachu knocked her out. Next up for Drasna was Druddigon, a pokemon that was the main tank of her team. Pikachu was charging up a thunderbolt but perish song took effect before he could fire it. Talonflame was Ash's choice. Druddigon had a hard time targetting Talonflame but did manage to hit it, first with a strong revenge then while Talonflame was attempting to attack using brave bird Druddigon used dragon tail and smashed into Talonflame with full force. Ash was down to his last pokemon and for the last time in this match he was behind. Ash sent out Greninja, his hopes of becoming a pokemon champion rested on the shoulders of this water pokemon. Ash started to drift, his mind was invaded by thoughts of negativity and despair that if he lost this match that may be a sign that Ash would never achieve his goal of becoming a master. Ash took a deep breath, he put these thoughts ot of his head as best he could and told Greninja to use ice beam. Ash had faith in his pokemon and he believed that he could win this match. Greninja finally managed to defeat Drasna's third pokemon. That left the battle one v one. As Drasna released he final and most powerful pokemon Noivern Ash finally started to believe he could win this. However this would not last, even though if ice beam hit it would do huge damage to the elite trainers pokemon Noivern was so fast that Greninja was finding it hard to focus on his target. There was a huge explosion when Noiverns dragon pulse colided with Greninjas dark pulse. However after the smoke cleared both pokemon were standing strong. Ash took advantage of the small smoke lingering by getting Greninja to use ice beam. Noivern moved but was not fast enough, the frozen ray connected with its right wing. Noivern crashed to the ground and Greninja pounced, a full force dark pulse connected with the dragon pokemon. Noivern tried to get in the air and dodge these attacks but the ice was still on its wing so it was grounded. Drasna decided that seeing as her plan A had failed plan B was to use attack as defense so she commanded Noivern to release a series of powerful moves. However Greninja was very agile and able to dodge them. Ash saw that the ice on Noiverns wing was thawing and so it may be his last chance.

"Greninja ice beam!" He shouted. The frosted streak poured out of Greninja's mouth and connected with Noivern in a cloud of dust. When the smoke cleared Noivern was laying unconscious on the battlefield.

As the two trainers called their pokemon back, Diantha announced. "Ladies and Gentlemen, Noivern is unable to battle, Dresna is out of pokemon. Meaning that this years Kalos league winner is Ash Ketchum." Ash couldn't believe it, he was speechless. Diantha walked over to Ash.

"Congratulations Ash. You have won this years Kalos league. How does that feel?" Diantha pulled out a second microphone and handed it to Ash.

Ash took a deep breath then his voice bellowed over the Arena speakers. "It's a dream come true, however I'm still looking forward to challenging you and trying to get into the Hall of Fame."

"So you are going to take the Hall of Fame challenge, because you can decline if you want."

Ash didn't know that it was optional but it made no difference to him. "No, I've wanted to be in the Hall of Fame ever since I knew what it was, so I'll be taking on the challenge."

"Well, good. I know that I'm relieved and I'm sure that everyone else here is as well. Are you looking forward to it folks?" The noise from the crowd almost knocked Ash unconscious . "I thought so. Well, tomorrow Ash you will be crowned this years champion. The day after you and I will be back on this battlefield to see if you can make it into the Hall of Fame."

"I'm looking forward to it."

"Me too." To the crowd she then said. "Well that's all for today but I expect to see each and every one of you back here 48 hours from now to see this years Hall of Fame challenge." With that Diantha walked off the battlefield to a loud cheer. Ash was about to leave as well but he stopped to talk to Dresna who had made her way over to Ash's end of the battlefield while he and Diantha had been talking. She offered her hand and Ash gladly shook it.

"You fought well." Drasna had a calm, friendly voice. Ash could tell that she had no hard feelings about loosing. Or if she did she hid them incredibly well.

"Thank you. You didn't make it easy for me."

"Well where would be the fun in that?" She simply said. Ash saw himself in Drasna, a trainer who loved pokemon and loved battling strong trainers. Not for winning, but because that is the way you bond with those closest to you. "I wish you good luck against Diantha." After that Drasna walked away.

Ash walked out of Arena, where he found Serena waiting.

"Congratulations honey." She said.

"Thank you. So how does it feel to be engaged to the Kalos League winner?" Ash said

"Nice but he can be a little annoying." Serena said sarcastically

"Ha, funny." Ash replied just as sarcastically

"It wasn't my best but I thought it was okay." Serena admitted.

"Where's everyone else?"

"I asked them to give me some time with my fiance."

"Well we'd better make the most of it." Ash told her as the two of them walked back to the pokemon centre. Ash was constantly stoppped by passers by who congratulated him.

When the two of them walked into their room they found a large basket on the bed. Ash walked over and read the card that was lying next to it.

Ash

Congratulations on your amazing win. I look forward to our match. Enjoy tommorow's rest, but be outside the Arena at 3 O'clock.

Diantha.

"Who's it from?" Serena asked.

"Diantha."

"Wow. There's a lot of stuff in here."Serena told him, Ash walked over and looked through the basket. Most of it was stuff for Ash's pokemon however it contained a few things for Ash. A couple of drinks and a few snacks. Ash placed the basket on the floor and dived on the bed. Serena sat beside him and rested her head on his chest. Ash curled his arm around her.

"Are you looking forward the match with Diantha?" She asked.

"Yes of course I am. It will be me vs the most powerful trainer in the whole Kalos region. Thousands of people watching as we battle. How they'll be caught in two minds. Forced to choose between the champion they've cheered for and the underdog they have just heard of." Ash paused when he saw that Serena was almost bursting with laughter. "Anyway. I don't want to think about that just now." Ash lifted Serena so she was on top of him. He kissed her on the neck. Serena started to stroke Ash's cheek. Just then Red burst into the room.

"Red! Boundries!" Ash shouted.

"Sorry. But I think that we really need to prepare." Red said slightly blushing.

Ash let out a loud groan. "Can't I have a little rest." Red looked at Ash with a blank expression that told him the answer. Ash got up and followed Red outside.

A strange thought appeared in Ash's mind. He wanted the League to be over, he wanted to be left in peace with his fiance. Ash thought more about what he wanted more, to challenge for the Hall of Fame or to spend time with his fiance. Ash couldn't decide, because he truely didn't know.