Inside the Grass stadium
Gardenia and James walked through the stands until they finally found three empty seats that didn't appear to have been occupied and sat down leaving the third seat empty right beside them. Like May had said to Maylene a passing group of Officer Jennies had separated Brock from James and Gardenia and (unknown to them at the time) became lost in the crowd. By the time the realized that Brock was gone they were standing just outside the stadium.
The match down one the grass field was one between a Miltank and a Weepinbell and to no surprise James and Gardenia were routing for the Weepinbell. The battle itself was rather exciting because the grass field had a set of bushes spread out around the field which the Weepinbell had been using to as an anchor to swing itself about the field to avoid any rollout attacks from the Miltank and even use them as cover from any other attacks the trainer ordered their Miltank to use.
In the heat of the battle Gardenia and James had completely forgotten about Brock. However, elsewhere Brock had certainly not forgotten about James and Gardenia and was looking around the stadium for them. Of course Brock would no doubt rather flirt with the Officer Jennies from earlier but after a quick poison jab and a short drag away from any trace of Officer Jenny snapped him back to his senses.
The grass stadium, like all the others, was roughly the size of an average football stadium and had just as many people packed in it. So needless to say, finding Gardenia and James was not going to be easy for the rock-type gym leader…
Inside the Ice stadium
May, Maylene, Max and Kean took their seats in the stands and watched a battle between a Frosslass and a Nosepass. The Nosepass spent most of the battle sliding about the field like an oversized hockey puck in order to avoid most of Frosslass' attacks, while at the same time shooting rock blasts at the Snow Land pokemon.
After a few dizzying moments of watching the fight the Frosslass finally fell after a surprise point-blank range Zap Cannon attack sent the ice-ghost type flying onto it's back forcing the trainer to recall Frosslass and send out a new pokemon… a Bisharp.
At this Kean's eyes grew wide and he called out Kurogane whom he had sit on his lap in an effort to see if Kurogane watching a Bisharp fight would help give Kurogane an idea of what he would be like if he evolved.
And the battle continued…
Inside the Sky stadium
Ash, Anabel, Kane and Anabel made their way to their seats, when they finally sat down they began to examine the sky field. The battle field alone was larger than all the other fields they'd been to so far and with the props that were used for this 'sky field' it was no surprise.
The platforms where the two trainers stood were easily twice as tall as all the other stadiums and the field itself consisted of multiple towers that were all at various heights with only five towers total being taller than the platforms where the trainers stood. The towers also seemed to have these large openings at the top just beneath the area where the pokemon would stand and a series of strange branch-like appendages appeared around certain areas of the towers.
The current trainers that were battling were a grey haired man in his early twenties; he had golden eyes, wore strange blue and black clothing and was currently using a Skarmory to battle against a Galvantula that was jumping from platform to platform while shooting out bolts of electricity at the Armor Bird pokemon.
For a moment it actually looked like a bolt of electricity would hit the Skarmory but instead the trainer ordered Skarmory to tilt to the right just a little and suddenly the Skarmory was pushed back by an unseen force away from the electricity. The trainer then ordered Skarmory to use Aerial Ace and the Skarmory then managed to turn around entirely and dart towards the electric-bug pokemon and send it flying onto another platform defeated.
"Galvantula is unable to battle and therefore the winner of this match is Wes Nights!" shouted the referee sending the whole stadium into an uproar.
"Oh I see! The openings at the top of the tower take in the passing winds and send it out through ventilation shafts inside the towers to the openings on the tower's branches making wind currents," explained Kane
"Like the battle at the air battle master's," thought Ash
"That guy seemed to know what he was doing with that Skarmory," Anabel stated causing the others to nod their heads as the grey-haired man left the field with nothing more than a confident grin, though the look in his eyes showed that he had more than just confidence in his arsenal.
With the battle over the crowd was given a ten-minute break before the next match. Ash and Kane decided to use this time to get some refreshments for the girls while Erika and Anabel made sure they would keep their seats for them.
While the boys walked to the concession stand Ash pondered a certain question that had been on his mind for a while now. Ash took a deep breath and said, "Kane can I ask you something?"
"Sure, what is it?" Kane asked
Ash motioned for them to move to a less public place so Ash and Kane walked away from the food stands that were now completely surrounded by hungry spectators. Soon the two found an empty corridor where the two stopped allowing Ash to take another deep breath as he spoke, "How- I mean… err… What should I do for Anabel?"
"Huh? I don't understand what you're asking Ash," explained the older trainer
"I mean… well I haven't been much of a boyfriend to Anabel. I mean ever since we kissed at that doctor's tower we have been doing nothing but train for this tournament and well… I feel like I haven't been much of a boyfriend to her," explained Ash
The two trainers remained silent for a few short seconds then Kane began to snicker until he finally let out an amused laugh much to Ash's embarrassment and anger.
"Hey! That's not funny!" Ash nearly shouted
Kane regained control of himself and said, "No, no that laugh was just me remembering that this was you I was talking to."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Ash asked
"Well here's what I'm saying; You Ash Ketchum have NEVER been in love and YOU now come to me asking how to be a better boyfriend for your girlfriend when the only thing you ever cared about before was training and battling with your pokemon. That's why it's so funny! Your growing up whether you know it or not."
"Okay, I guess you have a point there," said Ash as he realized that before he realized his feelings for Anabel he had never been in love before.
"Anyway trust me you don't need to do anything to impress her. After all you two do have fun together don't you?" Kane asked to which Ash nodded and Kane continued, "Then you are just fine the way you are. That's why Me and Erika are so well with each other. She accepts me for who I am and she accepts all of my traits both good and bad."
"Huh? What do you mean?" Ash asked
Kane just shook his head with a sigh "I'll tell you later but right now let's get something for the girls I think they might be getting worried and the line is short enough now."
"Good point I don't want to miss the next match!" Ash agreed and the two boys went back to the line and waited for their turn.
Meanwhile while the boys were chatting the Anabel and Erika were having their own private conversation…
Just after the boys left to get them some refreshments Anabel and Erika sat there quietly. During their time in silence Anabel could help but examine Erika's features and then compared them to her own. Erika's hair was not exactly long but it fell straight down to her shoulders while Anabel's was short, Erika had a well-developed body that may not have been the most seductive of all the women Anabel had seen in her life (not that she ever truely looked) but was certainly more appealing than Anabel's practically flat-chest and other underdeveloped areas.
Erika then noticed Anabel's quiet stares and asked the salon maiden, "Is there something on your mind Anabel?"
Anabel just shook her head and looked up at the clouds thinking back to previous events when she suddenly felt something cold touch her cheek causing her to nearly jump out of her seat in surprise. Anabel turned her head to see a smiling Ash staring down at her holding some cold water bottles in his hand while Kane walked past the two giving Erika her drink as the gang sat down just as the announcer began to announce the next match…
Back at the grass Stadium
Brock was still searching through the stadium for Gardenia and James as he turned a corner he stopped just in time to prevent himself from running over a familiar water type gym leader… Misty.
"Huh? Misty?" questioned Brock
"Brock? Are you here to see the match too?" asked Misty
Brock shook his head but before he could explain what he was doing Misty began dragging him along to her seats while saying that the next match would have very familiar faces in it and soon Brock found himself sitting next in between Misty and a strangely familiar man who looked about the same age as he was however this man had spikey yellow hair that practically blocked all view of the people unfortunate enough to sit behind him and Brock then noticed that the person sitting next to the man was one with red hair that looked like the man's head was on fire and the man next to him had blue hair in the shape of a fin. Despite how odd the three of them looked Brock couldn't help but feel that he knew these men from somewhere before though he couldn't think of anything.
"Remember them?" Misty asked Brock who just shook his head but before she could explain a small brown haired boy around the age of fourteen or fifteen walked out onto the field as the announcer began to speak,
"And now the next round of the Master's tournament! And taking his place in the stadium right now is none other than the proclaimed King of the B-button League Mikey!"
At this the three strange men stood up and began cheering loudly for the brown haired boy and then brock remembered who the boy was and who the three men were. They were the battling Eevee Brothers from way back when Brock had been traveling with Ash and Misty throughout Kanto.
"I ran into Mikey a few hours ago and he said his match was going to be here so I wanted to make sure I'd see his match," explained Misty as the announcer began to tell the crowd who Mikey's opponent was.
"And now the B-button King's opponent, a gym leader from the Sinnoh region the Icy cool, Brycen!" The Announcer declared as a man in his mid thirties wearing a mask and strange robes like something out of a kung-fu movie took the field with a wave to the crowd.
And so their battle began…
Back at the Ice Stadium
The last battle between the Nosepass and the Bisharp was now over with the Bisharp claiming victory for its trainer (much to the crowd's approval). Kean returned Kurogane to his pokeball having hopefully given Kurogane a few helpful pointers on how Kurogane can get strong enough to evolve. However after what the announcer said next made the previous applause sound almost silent in comparison. The next match was between an elite four and a supposed favorite among all of the regular trainers in the tournament.
When the challengers walked to their respective platforms Kean froze where he sat and stood up as if he was trying to get a better view of the arena making sure to get an extra good view of the blue corner.
"Kean? What's wrong?" May asked to which Kean gave no reply
Then the two challengers took their places in their respective platforms, one of the challengers was a woman in her early thirties if not mid-twenties, she wore a strange blue robe type of dress with white pokeball insignias all over it along with ankle bracelets that showed she was not wearing shoes. She also wore a bikini-like top that covered her breasts along with two large flowers woven into the sides of her short hair. Despite her looks she had a very calm ambience about her and the announcer finally spoke.
"Ladies and Gentlemen we have a spectacular show for you today because we will be watching a fight between elite four members of different regions! To the blue corner we have Phoebe of the Hoenn Elite Four!"
Phoebe waved to the crowd with a grin as the audience erupted into an uproar of cheers (and a few wolf whistles as well) as the announcer spoke up once again, "And her opponent in the green corner is the bug-loving Elite Four member of the Sinnoh region… Aaron!"
At this the other platform rose up revealing a man around the same age as Phoebe with green hair that had one hair sticking up like a stray antenna, he wore a sleeveless black shirt that had red lines in a symmetrical pattern along with Cargo pants and sneakers and, like Phoebe before him, he also wove to the crowd much to the approval of multiple fans (mostly women).
Back to Kean's group Kean had been staring at Phoebe as soon as he saw her enter the stadium and Maylene was the first to notice this so she asked, "Kean? Do you know Phoebe?"
"Maybe he has a crush on her," May said with a giggle but Kean shook his head and sat down with a sigh, "She's my big sister…"
So there you have it Chapter 14 all done at last! Looks like Anabel and Ash are having some… 'issues' with their relationship (I wonder how that will go?). So… what did you think of all the characters I've introduced in this chapter? What will be the outcome of some of those battles? Who is fighting in the Sky stadium? And Phoebe is Kean's older sister? Well who could have seen that coming?
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